Album Review: The Weeknd's 'Beauty Behind The Madness' Incredibly Diverse & Mesmerizing
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With the release of The Weeknd's "Beauty Behind The Madness," it's safe to say, that the album is without a doubt one of the most diverse offerings from an artist in 2015.
However, it still retains all of the mesmerizing ability that The Weeknd is capable of producing.
(Album Stream Below)
You can find Classic Rock, old school R&B, Pop, Hip-Hop, Indie and Blues influences all over the "Beauty Behind The Madness" album and it's done in one of the most tasteful manners. It's hard to compare an artist to the first piece or pieces of art in the case of The Weeknd to their new offerings.
The tracks that made you fall in love with an artist are for the most part never duplicated in future works.
The same can be said in this case but rather than differing from past works in a negative sense, The Weeknd has carved a brand new path that's relentlessly powerful and creative with "Beauty Behind The Madness."
Things get off to an epic start with "Real Life" where The Weeknd offers up an R&B ballad that outlines his real life experiences in love. He outlines the risks you take in love and how it can ruin you later on in your life.
The song has a similar arrangement when compared to "Earned It" which also made it's way to "Beauty Behind The Madness." The funk and disco sounds on "Losers" featuring Labrinth is pretty fresh and not too unexpected considering the major hit that "Can't Feel My Face" follows a slightly similar vibe but with a Pop tinge.
It also contains a jazzy breakdown towards the end that cleanses your ears palette.
"Tell Your Friends" is an obvious stand-out track with it's Kanye West production.
It gained over two million views on YouTube upon the release of the music video and it's old school R&B vibe mixed with The Weeknd's delivery and lyrics is just too good to ignore.
The ever intoxicating and haunting sound of "Often" is a direct flashback of sounds that can be found on his earlier works like "House of Balloons" and "Thursday," so purists get a little taste of the original days of The Weeknd.
"The Hills" and "Acquainted" can also be related to the older sounds of The Weeknd that fans are use to. They're both bass heavy and filled with sultry lyrics.
"Shameless" is reminiscent of and old school R&B track with it's acoustic work mixed with a slow but grinding-styled beat. The lyrics are just as dirty and steamy which fits the title of the song perfectly. Meanwhile, "In The Night" is direct ode to late 80's Pop and can be compared to Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" in terms of it's overall sound.
Now that's not a direct comparison to Jackson, though, many see a lot of similarities between these two artists.
"As You Are" is a beautifully done track that also takes you back to 1980's music but more of the early R&B tracks rather than the Pop offerings of the decade.
"Dark Times" featuring Ed Sheeran will easily be a fan favorite. Sheeran and The Weeknd put their best Soul shoes on to create an amazing track that revolves around the hardships of life and it's relation to love, more importantly unconditional love.
In another collaboration track The Weeknd teams up with Lana Del Rey who has been shaking things up with her upcoming album "Honeymoon." In "Prisoner" Lana Del Rey and The Weeknd show why they would make the perfect musical pair.
Haunting and dark are two words that would describe the music both these artists make and it's all over their collaboration. The final track "Angel" has an undeniable Classic Rock ballad sound and it's very successful.
Overall this is an extremely diverse album with something for every type of musical enthusiast. The Weeknd really outdid himself with "Beauty Behind The Madness" and it's quite frankly going to be hard to debate any of his previous albums in comparison to this one. That being said, the classic mixtapes will remained untouched in their greatness.
"Beauty Behind The Madness" is a great offering from The Weeknd, one he should be extremely proud of. You can stream the entire album below and let us know what you think in the comments section.