okay, THE WEEKND ALBUM TIER LIST
i love all these albums (mostly)
S Tier:
House of Balloons/Thursday/Echos of Silence:
I can't stress enough how important these three mixtapes are to me, my life, and my singing. The atmosphere and mood of the vocals are so immaculate. I feel like drowning in these albums for the rest of my life (i will)
Now I'm gonna break down all three separately:
HoB:
House of Balloons is a bit strange to me. Two of the most popular songs on here,
The Morning and
Wicked Games are my least favourite tracks cause I tend to zone out during them. That said, every other song on here is an absolute total grimefest.
High For This -> What You Need -> House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls has to be one of the craziest runs in a track listing ever. The Siouxsie and the Banshees
Happy House sample on
House of Balloons is absolutely GOLDEN and introduced me to Ms. Sioux. Later on,
The Party and the After Party -> Coming Down is just as diabolical. The second half of the former is one of my favourite moments on this album.
Coming Down is on a whole 'nother level. The vocal swells during the second verse hit me in the feels so hard. Also the Fate/Stay Night sample during the bridge is CRAZY. Hearing Saber call Shirou cowardly for running away is so thematically consistent for this album and that song in particular. Then having her sobs get chopped up into the beat, oh lord. Perfection.
Thursday:
This album gets too much hate. While I do think it
might be the weakest of the three mixtapes.... you know what nevermind, I love this album. Yet again, the theming is so absolutely consistent and on point. The thru-point of the character "Lonely Star" only having Thursday alone with The Weeknd breaks my heart. It culminating during
The Birds Pt. 2 with her sobbing saying "dont go, ill give you all my pills, just let me fall out of love with you first" fucks me up man. The aftermath afterwards on
Gone really makes it hit home, with The Weeknd wandering the streets so fucked up off his meds, drowning himself to make him forget everything. Chef's kiss.
Echos of Silence:
This feels like more of a victory lap compared to the previous two mixtapes. In terms of songs, I think XO/The Host into Initiation is flawless. The vocal modulation on The Weeknd's voice to make him sound slower or faster to show the types of drugs he's mixing. Sheesh.
Dawn FM:
Perfect. The concept on this album is pulled off impeccably well. This is what I wished After Hours would have been like. The sequencing of
Best Friends -> Is There Someone Else? -> Starry Eyes rivals that of the three song run on House of Balloons for me, it tastes so sweet. The back half of this album is gorgeous. This whole album makes me fly sky high man. Damn.
A Tier:
My Dear Melancholy, :
This was the first album (EP technically) that I actually had to wait for to come out. It came at a very special time of my life during a really bad break up. Very fitting seeing as how that's basically what this EP is all about too. The callbacks to his first three mixtapes during
Call Out My Name specifically
The Birds Pt.1 and 2 with the "let me fall out of love" line, sent chills down my spine the first time I listened to this song in the passenger side of my mom's car on the way to therapy haha
Hurry Up Tomorrow:
Amazing finale of an album. It carries out the full trilogy concept started in After Hours really well. I also especially love how the final track
Hurry Up Tomorrow ends on the same synth wave as the beginning of
High For This, the first track on House of Balloons.
There's another song on here that I love to bits, that being
Given Up On Me. I love this track so much. About halfway into the song it floats down into a really gentle piano moment. It reminds me of a dream I had when I was high on percs after a surgery in 2019. It was a SUPER vivid dream. I was in a small dimly lit cozy cafe in NYC plucking away on a midi keyboard on my laptop making a piano tune. All a sudden, I heard someone behind me say "Hey that's really nice, mind if I sing over it?", to which i replied sure without turning around. The guy started singing and i remember whipping my head round instantly to see The Weeknd XD I s2g
Given Up On Me was the song we were playing together.
Perc dreams are weird man xD
This album is the PERFECT send off to The Weeknd as a character. I love it. Also the movie that went along with it was VERY impressionable to me. What an amazing album cycle. I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect <3
B Tier:
Starboy: This album had the single
I Feel It Coming on it featuring Daft Punk. This was the single that actively got me to become a fan of The Weeknd. I remember listening to it while stuck in LA traffic in the back of an Uber in the middle of the summer under an underpass. It was muggy as fuck, but the lighting was perfect. Nice and hazy. There's a lot of banger songs on here, though not much of a concept. It's still awesome.
C Tier:
Beauty Behind the Madness:
This ones okay :D
After Hours:
Crazy opinion coming. I kinda actually hate this album. The pacing sucks and the songs are not my speed. I know this is the beginning of the last trilogy but... yeah I just can't. It feels way too corporate. I hate it.
Blinding Lights can eat my ass. I think the reason I hate this song is because I'm jealous that it got big. I feel like I coulda easily made something like this. It's so simple. ANYWAY, I digress.
D Tier:
Kissland:
A valiant effort from Mr. Weeknd. This was his first LP after being signed. And... I have no clue wtf he was thinking. I think maybe it was the nerves. The song writing here is not good, and the story telling isn't as dialed in. There are some really good ideas, but they needed more time to cook. Specifically
Love In The Sky and
Wanderlust are the standouts here.
THANK YOU FOR READING MY AUSITIC INFODUMP
I LOVE U ALL <3