With that momentum behind him, Beauty Behind the Madness sees Tesfaye hell-bent on stardom, shedding the fat from his disappointing major label debut, Kiss Land. Then there was "Earned It", the theme song for 50 Shades of Grey which introduced him to a whole new audience and put his angelic voice over orchestral pomp-a formula that proved hard to resist, even if the song was kind of icky. Tesfaye scrapped what writers provided him with and tried his hand at something radio-friendly, and the result was his most likeable verse since the hallowed days of the Trilogy. Tesfaye's pivot from cult lothario to pop star began last year with a guest verse on Ariana Grande's "Love Me Harder". It was also the catchiest song of his entire career. Co-written by Max Martin, "Can't Feel My Face" replaced direct references to Tesfaye's favorite things (cocaine and sex) with PG-13 allusions-a Weeknd song that's fun for the whole family. Not that the song's success was unpredictable. "My cousin said I made it big and it's unusual/ She tried to take a selfie at my Grandma's funeral," Abel Tesfaye sings on "Tell Your Friends", a revealing highlight from his second major label album. For anyone following the Weeknd since House of Balloons materialized from the ether in 2011, watching him walk on stage at the VMAs to perform "Can't Feel My Face"-his first number one hit-certainly felt unusual.
0 kommentar(er)
