It’s like Scarface, the villain: It’s horrible, but you can’t stop looking at it.” Though he didn’t release a new album in 2021, he was a constant part of the cultural conversation, releasing a slew of singles, performing at the Super Bowl and on Saturday Night Live (think: “Ladies and gentlemen, The Weeknd”), and winning the Apple Music Award for Artist of the Year. You add more to him, and then it’s uncontrollable-its own character. The song was written by him, Doc McKinney, Prince 85, Dylan Wiggins, Magnus Høiberg and William Thomas Walsh, and produced by the singer alongside McKinney, Cirkut, Cashmere Cat and Prince 85.
Sometimes you take him and then you create more, and then it becomes this beast. Pre-Chorus: The Weeknd You've been scared of love and what it did to you You don't have to run, I know what you've been through Just a simple touch and it could set you free We don't have to. 'Die for You' is a song by Canadian singer the Weeknd, from his third studio album Starboy (2016). That guy is who I am, but it is who I am to myself and in my writing. Speaking to Apple Music about the persona behind his songs, Tesfaye said, “I’m a chill person. And though his music has gotten a little brighter over time, the prevailing mood remains heavy, even unsettling-the ride you want more of even when you’ve had too much.
Tesfaye’s music has become a symbol of hedonism pushed to bleak excess, with a series of albums-including 2015’s Grammy-winning Beauty Behind the Madness, 2016’s multiplatinum Starboy, and 2020’s dense and atmospheric After Hours-whose narrators can’t seem to say no even if they hate themselves for it later. Verse 2: Kendrick Lamar I fight the world, I fight. Ethiopian by heritage (his parents immigrated to Canada in the late ’80s, just before he was born), Tesfaye-out from behind the mask of making art online-has since come to represent the changing face of Toronto, rooting himself not just in an international musical community but in a specific diasporic experience. If I'm gon' die for you (If I'm gon' die for you) If I'm gon' kill for you (If I'm gon' kill for you) Then I spilled this blood. One of the earliest musicians to find his footing on the internet, Tesfaye originally offered his music through YouTube and free downloads, a move that felt radical then but is common now. Abel Tesfaye confirms his status as an all-time great with an album of icy 80s-inflected splendour Last modified on Fri 22.45. The brainchild of Toronto singer Abel Tesfaye, the project took off in 2011 with a string of mixtapes (later collected as 2012’s Trilogy) that forged cavernous, falsetto-driven R&B with narratives drenched in drugs, sex, and other regrettable decisions-a sound both sensuous and detached, featherlight and dead heavy. If this is the end for the Weeknd, what a way to bow out. Even the singer’s sunniest tracks (“Can’t Feel My Face,” “Starboy”) feel anchored by darkness-the sense that pleasure is pain and beauty decays and you can’t have the night without the morning after. It was not an easy task, but hey, someone’s gotta do it.Nobody makes feeling bad sound as good as The Weeknd. Since you deserve to know all of Abel’s hits (not just the mainstream ones), I’ve completed my civic duty by ranking all of his best bops. (Literally, because Abel likely won’t make a single cent, but, uh, that’s a story for another time ?).īefore The Weeknd was…well, The Weeknd, he was Abel Tesfaye-a newcomer to the world of R&B who anonymously posted videos on YouTube under the name “xoxxxoooxo.” We now know the new Abel as a pop-hit-making machine, but in all honesty, some of his best songs are actually hella moody-no offense to After Hours or Starboy. The Weeknd is on the track to legend status- he took the stage during Super Bowl LV for the Pepsi Halftime Show, which pretty much catapults any performer into serious levels of superstardom. The Weeknd is easily one of the biggest stars of our generation, and after listening through the stack of albums he’s blessed fans with, it feels like he can do no wrong.