The Weeknd - Starboy (November 25, 2016) Album • Page 19

Same here. This album is unbelievably consistent in general, not a single bad song.

 

this is fine. its his best "album" but thats not really a very high bar to cross. a little disappointed coming off how strong "i feel it coming" is but this is definitely another step in the right direction for him.

 

2nd half of this is really solid.

LATE PASS: Holy fuck "I Feel It Coming" is changing my life right now.

 

I would love to see him live for this album cycle... hopefully the setlist incorporates a ton of new stuff.

 

Wouldn't be surprised if it does. He did all of BBTM in the Madness tour last year

 

When I saw him on the BBTM tour he performed every single song from that record so I bet he will do a bunch of new stuff! Unfortunately he only did 6 1/2 songs from Trilogy so it'd probably be even less than that now

 

Rumors are that he's going to headline Bonnaroo, and before last night (first full listen) thought it could potentially be a boring choice. After listening... man I am stoked for it. Many of these songs can translate fantastically live

 

Interestingly on the Apple Music description it lists this as a double album

 

I decided to re-listen to his discography because of this album and Trilogy sounds so different than I remember the original 3 mix tapes sounding. It sounds so polished and I swear the mixtapes had a different sound.

 

They did, the original tapes weren't mixed or mastered properly but they were for the official trilogy cd

 

i think something on trilogy has a totally different drum pattern too because they couldnt get the sample cleared

 

yep the aaliyah sample on "what you need" didnt get cleared

 

Jesus there are so many good songs on this album. Definitely my favorite pop album this year.

 

Never listened to the Weeknd before, but I really dig this album. Love Starboy, Reminder, Secrets, etc. Lots of good stuff.

 

Very consistent album, but there aren't any standout tracks for me like his last album. Maybe it'll grow on me with more listens.

 

Premature Evaluation: The Weeknd Starboy

"It’s funny: Tesfaye used to sound emotional about sounding emotionless. But on Starboy, he sounds like he’s found his lane, and that lane is “studious 4AM blankness.” Over and over on Starboy, Tesfaye sings odes to women with the same cold, conquering mindset that he has; it’s almost as if he’s singing love songs to himself. And yet the gnarliest, most passionate moment on the album is the one moment where one of those women gets a chance to sing — on “Stargirl Interlude,” when Lana Del Rey briefly coos about fucking in a kitchen. That one two-minute track is where Starboy feels most alive. The rest of the time, this is satisfying, well-executed pop music from someone who, once upon a time, was capable of something more."

more or less

 

That feels accurate to me about like half of it (just about all of which is still good) and too harsh on the other half. I do feel that way about a lot of the more overt pop stuff on it - satisfying, well executed is a good backhanded compliment - but there's a good chunk of it that scales pretty close to Trilogy.

 

I disagree with all of the negativity in that article, this album definitely isn't too long. Every song is great and feels worthwhile. The Lana song is brilliant but the other 17 songs are just as "alive". I love that interlude but tbh I would probably rank it in the lower half of the album.

 

Yeah, strongly disagreed with that article. I think this is a very consistent album, with lots of standout tracks and plenty of moments where it comes "alive".

 

It's funny that Tom Breihan, the author of that piece, gushed about BBTM supposedly having a "narrative arc" in his review of that album, when many would argue that lack of cohesion was that album's biggest drawback. To me, this album is by far the more cohesive listen, and BBTM was basically a collection of strong singles and a mixed bag of album tracks, many of which didn't feel like they went together on the same album. I like that album and especially the standout tracks, but if I had to pick one of the two to argue for as a cohesive listening experience it'd be Starboy without a doubt.

 

saying you disagree because its a consistent album with standouts is disagreeing with a position that he doesnt take in the piece...thats basically just rephrasing exactly what he says


he also doesnt say that the interlude is the only place the album feels alive but that its most alive there.

narrative arc also =/= "cohesion"

sometimes i wonder how closely yall read this shit lol

 

How can there be a "narrative arc" out of songs that don't sound like they go together, and some of them weren't even written for the album in the first place? "Often" came out before a lot of the album was recorded, "Earned It" was for a soundtrack and then was tacked on after it became a hit, etc. So in this case I think my point applies to both, the album was clearly not designed with some grander "statement" in mind considering several of the tracks weren't even written FOR the album.

 

beyonce's lemonade has a narrative arc and that shit is all over the place stylistically. form is not content. you can work pre-existing material into a loose "story" if you really want. i'm not even of the opinion that the arc is as clear as he presents it in his piece (or the one he wrote about bbtm last year) but you're not even addressing the actual substance of the argument he's making about that record.

this isnt even mentioning that the piece isn't even really down on this album at all and yall are just wiildin cuz you like it more than him

 

I'd argue the main takeaway from the piece is that this album is "a cynical piece of commerce, an album that’s been precision-engineered for the widest-possible appeal", and that Abel lost a lot of what made him unique along the way.

"But when you remove his lyrics from the equation, Starboy is an album entirely without friction, one that hovers over the water without leaving a ripple."

"A handful of slowed-up love jams, despite sounding insincere as all fuck, are pretty enough."

Yeah he doesn't hate it, but c'mon that's hardly a positive take lol. And that's fine, he raises some valid points even if they don't bother me much as a listener. The only real disagreement I have is his use of BBTM as a positive contrast to this album, because to me that album was far more of a manufactured product designed to churn out the hits, and he's ascribing a depth to it that's not really there.