April 5 2022, 3:30am
The Weeknd – whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye – released ‘Dawn FM’ on the 7th of January 2022, only four days after confirmation of the album’s creation. Even with such a short turn over, the perfect amount of anticipation was cultivated, and the artist certainly did not disappoint. Featuring 16 tracks, this extensive album subsequently succeeded in attracting fans of R&B.
Prior to the album’s release, the artist teased his fans with the track-list and album cover. In true Weeknd fashion, the album depicted a “freshly” styled Tesfaye – rather ironically as he looked old, decrepit, and pained. The matured image of the artist promised a reflective album that would demonstrate his development in the music industry and generally, a manifestation of his shifting moral values. With comparison to the album cover of ‘After Hours’, a transition had been made from that of Tesfaye with sinister intentions, to a more vulnerable side of him that may be alien to his fanbase. Additionally, ‘After Hours’ was only released two years prior to ‘Dawn FM’, and this new album cover could present the image of premature ageing. The sheer speed of The Weeknd’s ageing seemed to comment on the ruthless nature of the music industry and its demands, indicating that Tesfaye’s fear lay within his ability to keep up with the industry.
The track-list expanded on the contrast between ‘Dawn FM’ and previous schema. Fans of his older music such as ‘Coming Down’ and ‘High For This’ (both off of his digitally released mixtapes ‘Trilogy’) were used to transgressive lyrics which offered an escape from realism. When comparing this to the track-list of ‘Dawn FM’, songs such as ‘Best Friends’ showed a much more defenceless yet refreshing take on the artist we all know and love.
Delving into the album itself, The Weeknd presented three different categories of songs: ‘Intros and Interludes,’ ‘Classic Pop Songs’, and ‘Features’. Starting with ‘Intros and Interludes’ the album opened with the eponymously titled ‘Dawn FM’. Opening with forest-like sound effects, we were welcomed into a natural world, rather than one of superficial fame. The Weeknd’s voice itself seemed to be more synthesised, showing a more reserved vocal presentation which contrasted the raw emotions presented in his previous EP ‘My Dear Melancholy’. The sudden introduction of Jim Carrey’s voice, was an unusual pairing which added an eerie quality as he stated, ‘You’ve been in the dark way too long’. The song ended with a jingle, which emphasised the “radio” format of this album. Ultimately, an opening which led to many possibilities – and inevitably insurmountable curiosity.
Within ‘Intros and Interludes’ was also the track ‘A Tale By Quincy’. This track contained the voice of Quincy Jones – a music producer - and outlined his traumatic childhood and the effects this had on his later life. Again, this seemed to be an odd and rather random thing to include within the album. However, this may have eluded to the point the Weeknd was trying to make, that trauma can happen to anyone, even someone who painted an opaque façade - such as the Weeknd.
Moving on to the classification of ‘features’ the two features within the album were ‘Here We Go … Again’ featuring Tyler, the Creator, and ‘I Heard You’re Married’ featuring Lil Wayne. My personal favourite ‘I Heard You’re Married’, portrayed The Weeknd as a victim of cheating as he learned that the relationship was ‘too good to be true’. This was a clear contradiction to the start of the Weeknd’s career considering his song, ‘Wicked Games’, where the Weeknd stated ‘I left my girl back home/ I don’t love her no more/ And she’ll never f**king know that’. The Weeknd has transitioned from being a heartbreaker to being heartbroken.
Finally the section of ‘Classic Pop Songs’ contained songs such as, ‘Take My Breath’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Best Friends’ and ‘Less Than Zero’. Starting with my favourite song from the album, ‘Sacrifice’ was paradoxically refreshing and reminiscent of the Weeknd as an artist. The catchy backing track complemented the Weeknd’s simple but effective lyricism. With the track coming in at just over three minutes, the listeners were comfortably immersed within a world of pop, and given a brief break from the eerie and sometimes disorientating transitions within the album.
‘Take My Breath’ was also a noteworthy song that acted as the epigraph of the album. However, the album offered a revamped version of the single, with a longer introduction to the song pushing it to a near six-minute musical excursion. There seemed to be an uncanny similarity to Lipps Inc’s ‘Funky Town’. The disco-esque musicality again was a brief pause from the hard-hitting contents of the album. As this song was released prior to the album, it is fair to say that this song lulled listeners into false pretence that this album was going to be an objective crowd pleaser, rather than a subjective masterpiece – a clever tactic from The Weeknd and his marketing team.
All in all, ‘Dawn FM’ is sure to be placed as one of the Weeknd’s best albums due to its ability to present a new Tesfaye both physically and morally. If you loved this album, make sure you stay tuned as the Weeknd tweeted on January 10th ‘I wonder … did you know you’re experiencing a new trilogy?’. Therefore, sit tight and enjoy the dawn, because the sun still needs to rise.
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