The Weeknd created a universe with his previous album. 2020’s After Hours had a complete character arc both in the album and portrayed by Abel in music videos and performances throughout a 15-month span that culminated in the Super Bowl Performance. That concept and the rollout made this album one of the longest successful albums in a very long time. It was the first album since Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 in 1989 to have three chart topping songs in three different years. “Blinding Lights” is not only The Weeknd’s biggest song, but it’s one of the biggest songs of all time. It was the most top song of 2020, and was in the top three most played songs of 2021 on the end of the year Billboard Top 100 lists, and the song was actually released in 2019! The song spent more than a full year in the top 10, and was in the top 5 for 43 straight weeks. It’s almost unfathomable how big this song has become, but it is well deserved in my opinion, as it’s one of the most perfect pop songs I can remember in a very long time.
With the success of “Blinding Lights” and After Hours as a whole, there was no telling when he would actually release a follow up album. It doesn’t feel like he’s disappeared at all in the past two and a half years, but he kept talking about a follow up album called The Dawn all throughout 2021. There was no telling when it was actually going to appear, but right at the new year, he started teasing that it would come out with no large-scale rollout. Only a week after his social media tease of its release, Dawn FM was released into the world.
Before looking into the music itself on the album, we need to address the concept behind the album. Dawn FM is supposed to be a radio station to guide the listener through purgatory. When describing exactly what he envisions purgatory as, The Weeknd told Billboard, “Which I always imagined would be like being stuck in traffic waiting to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. And while you're stuck in traffic, they got a radio station playing in the car, with a radio host guiding you to the light and helping you transition to the other side.” Iconic comedian Jim Carrey plays the aforementioned radio host that comes in throughout the album and helps guide the listener’s experience.
Dawn FM doesn’t have as many immediate hits as his previous albums. Every Weeknd album from 2015 on has had at least a few hits that were incredible pop songs that would immediately rule the radio waves. Whether it was the Daft Punk assisted bangers on Starboy or the depressing anthems of Beauty Behind the Madness, the hits were instant and inescapable. Dawn FM doesn’t have those unarguable highlights that will destroy airwaves in the next week or so. Granted, I think songs like “Sacrifice” or “Less Than Zero” could get the point of being big hits, but they’ll have to take time to climb the charts like “Blinding Lights” did.
This album initially threw me a bit off with its pacing. The first five songs are straight electro-pop bangers that sound both straight out of the 80s and seemingly futuristic at the same time. They sound ready for the futuristic club setting that The Weeknd originally premiered the album in during an Amazon livestream event. But after that, the album slows down into a more traditional R&B pacing, and that shift feels dramatic the first couple times listening to the album. But after you get used to it, it becomes less of a big deal because each individual song transitions into each other perfectly! Whether it’s the dance build up between “How Do I Make You Love Me?” and “Take My Breath”, or the seamless transition between “Is There Someone Else?” and “Starry Eyes”, Dawn FM runs together like a perfect radio DJ set.
When it comes to the actual music on the album, it rarely falls short of pop perfection! He brings together electronic innovator Oneohtrix Point Never and pop titan Max Martin to help produce the vast majority of these songs, and their sounds blend together perfectly! There are still other notable names in here, whether it’s Swedish House Mafia or Calvin Harris, and all of these big names help make this album what it is. They all deserve lots of praise, because they managed to capture the 80s sound perfectly and not in a way where it feels like a pastiche. But for as amazing as the production is, it would be nothing without The Weeknd himself!
Abel’s voice has always been one that stood out in pop music, but he both elevates what we’ve known him to do and tries some new things throughout the album. He incorporates a deeper register on many of the beginning tracks on the album, with the biggest and most extreme example being the verses of “Gasoline”, that also show Abel having some of the most nihilistic lyrics he’s ever had, which is saying a lot considering his back catalog. But when he gets into the slower songs on the back half of the album, he’s able to stretch his voice arguably better than ever before! For example, the outro to the song “Out of Time” has him really putting his all into making sure the power and serene feelings behind the vocals are there.
The writing on the album is a bit hit or miss, but in general, it shows Abel being more vulnerable about his relationships than previously before. The last few songs especially all seem to revolve around him wanting to repent for his wrongdoings and accepting that the girl he wants has moved past him. The future hit “Less Than Zero” is a perfect example of this, as the lyrics paint a picture of him being sad over the girl he loves viewing him as less than zero, despite the seemingly upbeat production. Granted, this seems to be because he previously cheated on her and refused to commit, so it seems like it was his fault things went sideways, but he seems to be acknowledging that and overcome with sadness about his previous wrongdoings.
Thematically, Abel revealed that this album is actually apart of a trilogy, starting with After Hours and having Dawn FM in the middle. With this album being a radio station in purgatory, people are theorizing that it will mirror the Divine Comedy, with him going from on Earth, into purgatory, and finally Heaven. The “Gasoline” music video is also heavy on symbolism as well, with current day Abel killing the older version of himself at a party. The symbolism behind it is likely his older self trying to warn his younger self about the effects of all the drugs and partying he’s doing, but to no avail. It could also be a reference to The Picture of Dorian Grey, a famous story by Oscar Wilde where the main character does the exact same thing, attempts to get rid of his old self to maintain the younger self that loves to party and indulge. There are also many important moments, like the arms reaching up from the ground that are trying to stop the older version and demonic faces of the partygoers that will require lots of viewings and connection to other videos to actually figure out. But for as frustrating it is to figure out, making theories about this rollout and world is part of the fun.
It’s rare to see an artist and know that they are in their prime, but this feels like The Weeknd operating at his best. Sure, the Trilogy projects were extremely influential for R&B and pop music in the 2010s, but this new trilogy of albums Abel has set up for himself with After Hours and Dawn FM feel like he’s operating on a completely different level. These two albums are already high on the best projects of the 2020s so far, especially on a mainstream level, and the world he’s creating around them is unparalleled in current popular culture! This run of Weeknd albums feels like a moment in music, and I can’t wait to hear the final album whenever it comes out!
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