Dawn FM - The Weeknd

The Weeknd dropped his new album “Dawn FM” this Friday, and shows a more concept-based approach to creating an album.

Everything circulates around the idea of a radio station keeping you company through the early side of the morning, and while I love the idea of it, I’m not too sure about the execution. I wish I could say I really loved this album, but it lacks originality for me, and at times it seems as if it is just one long track. Though, what it lacks in originality it wins in creativity. Taking the idea of a radio station and creating these three centerpieces Dawn FM, Every Angel Is Terrifying and Phantom Regret by Jim that leads you from one chapter to another is really clever, but I’d wish everything in between would have been just as good.

On this album, Abel introduces a new sound. One which we have never heard from him before. This is the case on the track Gasoline, where he instead of using his higher voice register, uses his lower register and shows his impressive vocal range. Personally, I prefer when he is singing in his higher register, but I’m all for switching it up once in a while!

Because The Weeknd always takes on the role of the hopeless romantic in his songs, I was hoping for something different this time. Something not evolving around yet another beautiful girl he has spotted on the dance floor, who he ends up hurting and eventually wants to win back. Love songs come easier and reaches a much broader audience, I get it, but I was just wishing for another direction this time. Okay guilty as charged, I miss R&B-Abel.

The only two tracks on the album I really find interesting, don't forget Take My Breath, which is a real crowd pleaser, are Less Than Zero and Here we go …. Again feat. Tyler The Creator. A feature I don't really understand as Tyler's part is so minimal, but definitely a song that got added to my playlist anyways.

What never disappoints though are the various productions going on on this album. Insanely talented producers have teamed up and created this 80’s inspired universe Abel has been taking a lot of inspiration from on his latests albums. We see names as Max Martin, Tommy Brown and Oneohtrix Point Never and immediately know we are in for a ride. But could it be a disadvantage having such big names on the credits? Instantly your expectations are sky-high and suddenly there is a lot more to prove. Some tracks sounds like ones I have heard before, and it might be controversial, but I do not think Sacrifice deserves to be in the spotlight as the “hit” of the album. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

What I do love is the strong way of ending off with Phantom Regret by Jim, which really left me speechless. You get this majestic feeling of experiencing something no one else gets to experience, something that feels as the end of something huge. Amazing harmonies and top-notch production on that track.

As mentioned earlier, we see the 80’s as a big inspiration for Abel, and I am totally loving it. All I was hoping for was for it to have some more variation and working on creating better melodies and hooks, like we see in Take My Breath. It all gets too “washed out” for me. But something I love about this album is the ease around it. No need for Abel and his team to run a long campaign, it just gets to exist on its own. Maybe he knew he wasn’t releasing his best work, or maybe he was so confident in it that he would rather just let it speak for itself.

I think it’s an album you need to listen to at least a handful of times, before you can start separating each songs from one another. I will always love his unique voice, but I was hoping for something more with this album.