After Hours: A Continuation of Where it Began on Kissland
The Weeknd’s international man of mystery persona has allowed him to express his artistic expression in a way that enhances his music while staying true to his art form. The meticulous detail he puts into everything from his image, to his music comes out carefully crafted, almost as if it is scripted.
High for This
He never fully gives into external pressures musically, he has always come out with complex, layered, and cinematic music to be enjoyed by his global fanbase. While most of his music has come out to critical and fan acclaim, his debut album of Kissland did not. The album was wrongly seen as a disappointment, and after listening to After Hours, the disparity of opinions regarding the two albums strikes me as odd since his latest effort is essentially a part two of sorts to Kissland.
Professional
With Kissland, you get the sense that you’ve entered a completely different world as the sounds are much different than what was previously offered with Trilogy. That fact is apparent with the first track of the album, Professional. Starting off with a hit of a gong, you’re catapulted somewhere foreign while being in awe of your unique surroundings with a low hum, hypnotizing keys and a percussive synthesizer. This is all hypnotic and mesmerizing and it sets the tone for the rest of the album. While the albums sonics deviate from that of Trilogy with its synth driven, key and drum heavy, and sometimes pop elements, the subject matter is roughly the same with his hedonistic, egotistic ways never straying. It is a more self-reflective, accepting Weeknd than the one we heard on Trilogy, as on Professional, he sings,
“Because it’s just love/it always makes its way back around,/its dispensable/to fall is unacceptable”
The assuredness in his voice makes the listener believe that he’s unworried about a female counterpart he left behind as he’s got more important worries; which is a sentiment that is echoed on Adaptation. Over top of a violin, drums, hi hats and a muffled sound of someone crying, he sings,
“I think I lost the only piece that held it all in place/now my madness is the only love I let myself embrace”
The consequences of his abrasive choices had led The Weeknd to not only live with his decisions but embrace them as a part of his story as he moves onto the next chapter in his life. Not being in the public eye means that he’s had to show himself through his music and therein lies the power of this project. He is displaying his complex mind and self; one that isn’t solely consumed with partying but one that recognizes his anxieties. Even when he is speaking about the party lifestyle, he gives the listener a glimpse into his anxiety ridden mindset as on Live For, he sings on the opening lines,
“Getting sober for a day, got me feeling too low, they tryna make me slow down, tryna tell me how to live, I’m about to lose control”
The Weeknd captivated and further connected with his audience by showing the more humanistic side to him allowing his audience to relate on a deeper level. 7 years and 3 albums later, he responds to himself on After Hours; and it appears as though he’s realized the issue with this earlier thinking.
ALONE AGAIN
After Hours’ first track of Alone Again runs parallel to Kissland’s Professional in that they both talk about where he’s at, they’re synth heavy, mesmerizing, and both have a beat switch mid song. Except on Alone Again, over the round, bouncy, hypnotic beat he seems to be consumed with regret and despair as he sings,
“I don’t know if I can be alone again/I don’t know if I can sleep alone again”
It seems as though he’s realizing his old ways are catching up to him and perhaps, love isn’t so dispensable because he’s falling and needs someone there to catch him. Like Kissland, the albums sonics are guided by synthesizers, drums, keys and hi hats but the album wouldn’t be a Weeknd album if he didn’t have extra instrumentation that make the songs sound full. On After Hours, to enhance the music he uses the sounds of spaceships, muffled singing/crying, alarming bells, and the sounds of pills being shaken. It’s a cinematic, adrenaline inducing, anxiety ridden album; just like Kissland. The guilt, regret and despair is experienced differently though, as he can’t push it away anymore as he eludes to on Save Your Tears when he sings overtop of the 80s inspired beat,
“I don’t know why I run away/I’ll make you cry when I run away/take me back cause I want to stay/save your tears for another day”
On Kissland, a major theme was acceptance, however on his latest effort, themes circle around regret and self-despair as he realizes the problem with his actions. Those regrets and despair get echoed on the last track Until I Bleed Out as he sings the lines,
“Well I don’t want to touch the sky no more, just want to feel the ground when I’m coming down, it’s been way too long, and I don’t even want to get high no more, I just want it out of my life, out of my life”
This is a stark contrast from when he said on Kissland’s Love in the Sky,
“You said you’ve been to the sky/we’ll go beyond that”
In the 7 years since the release of the song and album, he’s realized the hurt that substance abuse has caused, and he can’t sustain that life anymore. He desperately wants to change but he has a part of him too stuck in his ways which is why the bonus track Nothing Compares is so gut-wrenching. On it, he sings,
“Even when it’s great/I still walk away/I couldn’t even change for you”
It’s a heart-breaking statement swamped in hopelessness and fear but in a weird way also acceptance; which comes full circle to the topic first breached on Kissland.
UNTIL I BLEED OUT
7 years later, The Weeknd channels the musicality he portrayed on Kissland but from a more wise, self-reflective perspective. After Hours and Kissland are one in the same, while also being a complete antithesis of one another. The differentiation he shows between the two albums resembles the growth of an artist as he struggles between two lives; acceptance but also regret, he moves forward while having a foot stuck in the past.
Stream The Weeknd’s After Hours: