Byrd’s Corner Music Review: The Weeknd

By Aaron Byrd
Twitter: @itsAByrd

Just when you thought R&B was dead, at a stand still, in come the Canadians to the rescue…Yeah you read it right. The Canadians. More specifically 20 year old Abel Tesfaye and friends but you may know them as The Weeknd. This Toronto based collective is yet another representation of a recent revolution of young up and coming late teen, early 20s R&B singers and producers.

Another notable is Los Angeles based Frank Ocean. Similar to Ocean, The Weeknd is quickly developing a name for themselves and they are catching fire in almost a Justin Beiber kinda way, well..maybe more like James Blake. Nobody is really touching Bieber right now.

Tesfaye, who is considered the leader of the trio, has fellow Toronto native Drake to thank for The Weekend’s sudden catapult into music consciousness. Apparently Drake is such a fan that he has tweeted a few of The Weeknd’s lyrics giving them both credit and ample praise thus instantaneously exposing the virtually unknown trio to the world, to the tune of 2 million plus (Drake’s Twitter followers).

The Weeknd sounds familiar but not at all at the time. They’ve somehow been able to cleverly combine Jodeci and Aaliyah with Theophilus London and Afta-1. These kids are kinda nice.  If you have not heard about them yet, just ask your teenage daughter or niece or just wait a few more weeks and you’ll start to see their name everywhere but just remember that Byrd told you first. We yearn for extended weekends, this trio plans on providing just that. Check ’em out, The Weeknd.

Lyrically, The Weeknd is bold, explicit yet, seductive and intriguing. Tesfaye’s vocal presence and delivery is surprisingly very mature for someone who is just one year removed from his teenage years. Sonically, The Weekend’s sound is dark, ethereal, spacious, warm and sexy. All of which is exemplified with their debut House of Balloons Mixtape which they’re giving away for free on the their website http://the-weeknd.com/