Off of The Weeknd’s back-to-back performances at Coachella and with it being 4.20 (on the West Coast still at least), I couldn’t think of a more appropriate playlist to put together for you guys. Abel Tesfaye’s music isn’t like your typical R&B. It’s dark but sexy, features slow tempos with lyrics about sex, drugs, and partying, and is typically sung in quite the falsetto. I’m obsessed.
If you haven’t listened to or even heard of The Weeknd, I highly suggest you check him out. And no I’m not just saying this because he is Drake’s protégé – he is truly talented. And having seen him perform multiple times, his talent on the stage is equally brilliant and breathtaking. Check out some of my faves below.
SERGE’S SELECTIONS
Californyinz 
Didn’t include “The Knowing” 😦
But anyway, here’s a question: would you say that old Weeknd > new Weeknd? Or vice-versa? It seems like people debate this a lot, and I was curious what you thought.
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Hi Rich – thanks for the comment! ‘The Knowing’ just doesn’t resonate with me like the others, but still a good song 🙂
I personally like old Weeknd better. I’ve definitely given his newer stuff a try (and will continue to do so with future music) but with the exception of ‘Live For’ (since I’m a huge Drake fan, as you can probably tell) and a few others from Kiss Land, I’m still drawn way more to his older stuff. Also as much as I love this song, but if I hear ‘Earned It’ one more time on the radio, I may lose it ha. What about you?
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Yeah, I think I tend to agree with you. I thoroughly enjoy “King of the Fall” and “Often,” but after that his newer stuff tends be a little less impactful.
It’s interesting to me that we arrived at similar conclusions regarding this, despite coming across The Weeknd from entirely different perspectives. I’m assuming you found him through Drake… However, I found him originally through Gemini’s cover of “Crew Love” and then he really started to catch on with me after Ellie’s cover of “High for This” and Kygo’s remix of “Often.”
I’m really kinda new to hip-hop type stuff, to be honest. Most of the music in my past is a swath of alternative/electronica/trance/alt.rock/chillstep/etc. I’ve seen some describe The Weeknd as PBR&B, i.e. Hipster R&B, or more plainly, “R&B white people like.” I don’t necessarily disagree with this characterization, but I do feel that it trivializes his style somewhat.
The idea of PBR&B as a genre is very fascinating to me, since it tends to combine many of the elements I like from alternative and chill with ideas from hip-hop that are considerably less familiar. As you said above, it’s darkness can be quite alluring, both lyrically and musically (especially musically, at least for me).
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I actually found The Weeknd through the show Entourage – their season 8 trailer featured his song ‘High For This,’ and I’ve been in love ever since.
I had no clue what PBR&B was until you mentioned it – did a quick search and yep, I like those artists associated with that genre – Miguel, Jhene Aiko, Frank Ocean (one of my absolute favorites). Not sure if I would consider it “R&B white people like,” since I’ve been to many of these artists’ concerts, and there are many many different types of people there. I really think it just depends on the person and their musical taste, what they’re feeling at the time, etc. Good talk!
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