One need look no further than songs like “Six Feet Under” or “Party Monster.” On the former, Abel chooses to literally rehash some of his lyrics from his last Future collaboration, “Low Life.” It plays less like a cool callback and more like an old demo that Future and the FreeBandz crew rejected. And Tesfaye has shown no intention of varying his lyrical themes, choosing instead to bring them even closer, eschewing any kind of variation or innovation. What was initially exciting and unprecedented on Echoes is now cookie-cutter. Sputnik user Guzzo’s review perfectly sums up what’s wrong with both Kiss Land and this template in general: it’s become repetitive and formulaic.
This same narrative was revisited on the maudlin and dystopian Kiss Land. Songs like “D.D.” and “Next” have the dark knight himself decrying those who’ll only deal with him because of his imminent fame. On his 2013 masterpiece Echoes of Silence, Tesfaye told the story of a man hitting rock bottom just as his star was about to rise. If this premise sounds familiar, it’s because Tesfaye has played with this theme extensively before. Despite having everything, he’s still uncomfortable with it all, and desperately clings to women and vice to escape the mounting pressures of stardom. He says as much on the title track, “Starboy,” when he talks about how large and empty his house is, or how absolutely divine his cars are. This newfound stardom has taken his life in complicated new directions (that are ultimately just less-vivid versions of tales he’s already told). The central thesis of Starboy is that Tesfaye, a loner and unconventional performer, has become an unlikely star. And Starboy serves as the best case for Tesfaye as a pop star yet. In his place is the newly sober, newly minted pop star Abel Tesfaye. The Weeknd, known primarily for his hook-averse, experimental, and exciting output, is gone. Compared to his prior efforts as The Weeknd, Beauty… registered as the least “Weeknd” project of his yet, a glossy, gussied-up effort that desperately tries to please everyone, ultimately failing to do anything all that exceptionally while succeeding in doing everything well-enough. In my review of last year’s Beauty Behind the Madness, I made a big deal out of the undeniably focus-grouped and sanded-down pop leanings of the project.