After Hours - The Weekend

I remember getting into The Weeknd during my last year of college when "The Hills" started making the rounds. I had heard a song or two, but they hadn't caught my attention like "The Hills" and "Can't Feel My Face" did. From then, I followed along with his releases, from Starboy to My Dear Melancholy, and now After Hours. It's made for an interesting ride these last five years now. The Weeknd has put out some fantastic songs - "Starboy" has been a record I've come back to again and again. "Call Out My Name" is a haunting track that resonated with me. Albums as a whole, however, are a different story. While Beauty Behind The Madness was an excellent collection of songs, Starboy was not. It had some great singles, but a lot of the album felt like filler. My Dear Melancholy had a couple good songs, but the others felt mediocre.

So I didn't have the highest of expectations for After Hours when it released. I had listened to a few of the singles, but only one had stuck. After I gave the album a few listens, however, I found myself surprised. This was not a collection of random songs written by the same artist. This was an intentional piece of music, a series of tracks that tells a cohesive story. In an interview the magazine King Kong, The Weeknd explained how there was a very specific, thought out story being told with After Hours. This is in contrast to Starboy, which he confirmed in the interview was not made as a cohesive unit, but with a focus on the individual songs. Reading this made me feel more justified for my view of Starboy, and confirmed my theory that it was not made with as much intentionality as his other work had been.

There's a heavy 80's influence on this record - that's evident from the first track, and a common thread throughout. Songs like "Blinding Lights", "In Your Eyes", and "Save Your Tears" have the strongest concentration of 80's sounds. Each invokes that decade well; from the drum beat of "Blinding Lights", the saxophone solo of "In Your Eyes", and the synth lead of "Save Your Tears". But it's interesting how The Weeknd manages to mix the nostalgia with the modern - incorporating trap and modern pop sounds with the retro synths. It invokes a weird mixture of the past and the present, causing the listener to feel as if they're listening to something both familiar and unknown. The song that does this blending best is the opener, "Alone Again" - it's split into two halves. The first half leans towards the 80's with the synths, while the second half is driven by a trap beat. It's not clear cut - each half draws upon the other to create the whole picture. It's that mixture I mentioned earlier of past and present, known and new, and "Alone Again" does a great job of setting the stage for rest of the album.

After Hours also does a great job of mixing the light with the dark. The album has points that feel like The Weeknd is riding on a high (quite literally sometimes), but at other points he sinks into the darkness, pulling out gritty sounds and heavier tones. This contrast plays well into influence of both the 80's and Las Vegas on the album. Each is known for a duality - for both the bright, flashy aspects, and for the brooding and seedy underbellies.

Within a few listens, it becomes evident that the story told centers around location - primarily Las Vegas, but also Los Angeles and Toronto. These places aren't always explicitly mentioned, but often they are the focus of tracks. "Escape From LA" is the most obvious, but "Snowchild" and "Blinding Lights" are examples as well. The general idea of the album is that The Weeknd is seeking to escape Los Angeles for Las Vegas - although that proves not to be the safe-haven he desires. "Escape From LA" delves into the dark side of Los Angeles, the place where people come to pursue their dreams. The more interesting aspect of this examination of LA is that it touches both on general issues about the city, but also sees The Weeknd diving into relational problems. If these issues happened in the City of Stars, it would make sense that he would be looking to leave - the memories might be too much to bear. "Snowchild" also touches on the desire to leave LA, with the line:

"Cali was the mission but now a n**** leaving".

It references several other songs from The Weeknd's discography, the most obvious being "The Mourning" from his 2011 mixtape, House Of Balloons. That song included the line:

"Order plane tickets Cali is the mission",

which indicated his desire to be in California, to be in Los Angeles, as he pursued his music career. But as he's spent time in the city and grown older, he realizes it's not where he wants to stay. California is not the goal anymore. Las Vegas, however, doesn't end up being a total sanctuary. It's got problems of its own, and The Weeknd has a very personal history with the city. As noted in the song "Faith" from the album, that includes an arrest back in 2015. With that in mind, the idea that his problems continue to follow him regardless of the location, it presents an interesting and important lesson. You can't outrun your problems, no matter how far you go; you have to face them.

I found it interesting how much The Weeknd focused on the cities of LA and Vegas. As someone who lives in LA and who has spent some time in Vegas, I have pretty strong opinions about both. The Weeknd had a specific story he was telling with the album and personal experiences he was conveying. However, as I listened to the record, the songs brought to mind my own experiences and stories within those locations. I thought about all the things I've been through in the almost eight years of living in Los Angeles. I remembered the mission trip I went on to Las Vegas, and the ministry we did for the week we were there. I remembered how my perception of both cities has drastically changed during my time in each. How Vegas went from the place in the desert with the crazy hotels to a spawning ground for poverty, violence, and sex trafficking. How LA went from Hollywood and Disneyland to a place of isolation and suffering for many people and now to being my home. Our perceptions of places change - especially high profile places like LA and Vegas, which are portrayed in media as being a certain way. When we visit for ourselves and spend time away from the main hubs and tourist spots, we get into the real places where people live and breath and die. We understand these places in a different way, we can see the reality and the true side of residing there instead of passing through. This album follows that concept, that the first listen is not the same as the fourth or seventh or tenth time through. There's a glamour and shimmer to the first couple times, the surface listens. But when you inspect it closer, when you hear the words and what they mean, you see the cracks and the brokenness that is being put on display. It's hard to see it the way you saw it before, borderline impossible. Your perception has been altered forever.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this album when it first came out. I didn't think I would like it that much - a few songs at most, but not the record as a whole, as a work of art. But I was wrong, and I am glad to be wrong. This record is one of the best The Weeknd has done. Are all the songs my favorite? No. But it is a showcase of his storytelling abilities, of his vocal talents, and his strong sense of songwriting. A surprise hit of 2020 (only a surprise for me, I imagine).

Recommended: "Snowchild", "Too Late", "After Hours'