Many people aren't aware of who "The Weeknd" is, allow me to give him the just introduction he deserves. Abel Tesfaye, The Weeknd, was born 23 years in Ontario, Canada. He is of Ethiopian descent and grew up listening to a wide variety of music, which allowed him to create his own very unique style of music. At the age of 17, him and a fellow crew member dropped out of high school to pursue music. His stage name was inspired by them having "left one weekend and never came home" and the weekend activities he's fond of. Most of the songs have heavy drug elements implanted alongside womanizing, basically just him describing living the life of a modern music star with the old Hollywood antics of open heavy drug use. Trilogy is actually a compilation of his 3 prior mix tapes alongside a few other new songs. The mix tapes: House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence were all released in 2011 prior to Trilogy's 2012 release. Trilogy is comprised of 30 amazing songs, leaving me with my work cut out to choose only the Top 5.
5. "The Fall"
This song artistically describes his fear of reaching the peak of his fame and fortune and not wanting to descend back to his previous life, "and the peak ain't reached but the peak is all I fear" (at this point there isn't a large possibility of him returning to a life without fame even if the fortune is squandered). This is actually one of his only songs where drug use isn't a large theme, which is probably why he chose this same song to quickly apologize to his mother. "Momma, I understand why you're mad and it hurts to accept what I am, and how I live, and what I do", is his subtle apology for just letting his mother down by first dropping out, second having meaningless sex with multiple women, and third his drug use. Three things that put food on his table, but also upset his mother a great deal. Although the lyrics are just raw and uncensored, my favorite parts of the song are the beat and background sounds.
4. "XO/The Host"
The song has a 2 part title because it is actually two songs with different melodies, lyrical content/topic, and tempo. XO is more up tempo and is a series of things said to a girl while she is high on ecstasy. He often mentions XO which is an ecstasy or oxycodone fueled high. The term XO has actually become his logo which is found on many of the apparel he released prior to his 2013 album Kiss Land. The second part of the song, "The Host", actually is a way slower tempo but a series of lyrics used in another one of his songs called "The Initiation". His form of an "initiation" is a female getting high and then proceeding to have sex with him and his friends. Although that may seem cruel, the girl spoken of was remembered to "it wasn't long ago, [you] didn't think I'd go this far, well I got a test for you" so he proceeds to "test" her by getting her high and allowing whatever to happen, happen.
3. "The Birds Pt.1"
With an extremely quick tempo, "The Birds Pt.1" could inspire the most shy individual to get on the dance floor. The beat is accompanied by a tambourine giving it an ethnic feel, you could almost picture a group of gorgeous gypsy women dancing around a fire to this song. A reason why this song is among my favorites and closer to the top of the list is because he's warning people to not fall in love with him and I relate to that feeling as an individual who isn't the most moral person when it comes to dealings with the opposite sex. "Don't you fall in love, don't make me make you fall I love with a n***a like me nobody needs to fall in love", is the most repeated line but also my favorite. The tongue-tripping "make me make you fall" is properly placed and further illustrates what a musical genius he is because anyone else could've seriously wrecked that line. Returning back to his constant touring, drug use, and extreme womanizing, he warns the girl about "a n***a" like him.
2. "The Morning"
For about 2 weeks, no actually a month, this would be the first thing I listened to in my car on the way to school. It was a 10 minute drive but it absolutely needed to be started with the soothing cords of "The Morning". Although Miguel came after the Weeknd his sound is more widely known and accepted, which leads to the comparing of this song to a song of Miguel's style. Its soft guitar cords, calming tempo, and large amount of singing lead me to a calming feeling as I approached the hellish destination of high school when senioritis was at it's worst. Following the archetypes of money, sex, girls, and drugs this song just describes the morning after the "turn up" which is more of a daily thing for him but not so much for the slew of girls he interacts with. Here, have a listen to the ingenious morning inspiration song for the girls with little morals, aspiring musicians, and anyone who usually doesn't follow societies expectations:
1. "The Party and the After Party"
"With your Louie V bag, tats on your arms, high heel shoes make you 6 feet tall, everybody wants you, you can have them all", is probably the most amazing hook I have ever heard. It encompasses every shallow little thing a girl like me would want if I was that superficial. Who doesn't want to have their pick of any guy/girl though? If you were materialistic enough, who wouldn't want a Louis Vuitton bag and heels? And although its widely frowned upon, many girls want/have a sleeve of tattoos. This hook appeals to almost every variety of female in the first 50 seconds of the song. Disclaimer: I don't do hardcore drugs, BUT I could imagine that the melody of the song works very well with someone who is under the influence and just hanging out. Prior to the concert of his that I attended on September 30th, I had NO clue that almost everyone wanted to have sex to this man's music. As soon as he began to perform this song of course I lost my mind but the grinding came out and I could only imagine how many babies were conceived that night by the lucky or unlucky men who took their significant other to the concert. Another intriguing element of the Weeknd's songs are the curse words. When he swears its not seen as offensive to me. I too "swear like a sailor" but certain curse words in songs in the rap genre still offend me, its odd but very true. The title isn't a 2-part title but there are 2 different tempos in this song as well. The first one is a little more upbeat and it'd probably be playing in a party montage part in a movie (a party with lines of cocaine and a hotel setting) and the second tempo seems more like a song that's played during a couple's foreplay. Although its a rather vulgar song it is my favorite song on Trilogy and favorite song in general.
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