Introduction
Right before the COVID-19 lockdown hit, The Weeknd dropped his fourth studio album, After Hours, which is often seen as his most successful album. The Weeknd steps away from his “Starboy” era and enters a more dreamy tone with a synth-pop feel in this album. Released through XO and Republic Records, The Weeknd produced most of the album with intel from Metro Boomin, OPN, Max Martin, Illangelo, and DaHeala to create heavy bass with leading guitars and synthesizers. After Hours embraces strong themes of loneliness, escapism, and self-hatred showcased by the Weeknd’s powerful chords. Running for almost an hour and consisting of 14 songs, the Weeknd receives his best recognition from his album, After Hours.
Vocal Performance
An album is never complete without its lead vocals and After Hours is no different. The Weeknd adds to the intensity of the album with his powerful and passionate vocals. The listener is drawn into his elaborate voice with the ways he uses his voice to add character to the already impactful music. We see the Weeknd’s dominant vocals in the song, “Escape From La.” He takes a more solemn tone to convey his sad and lonely words. Using his voice, the Weeknd makes the listener feel what he is feeling with the control he has. On the contrary, in “Blinding Lights,” we hear a more upbeat Weeknd whose vocals are lifted to a higher standing with the creative background instrumental. The way the Weeknd can control his voice to make any genre or rhythm within this album is unmatched.
Production
The greatest component of this album is its production, stemming from the sounds created to its clash with the vocals. On multiple tracks like “Hardest To Love,” you can hear an electric piano that combined with the drums to create a percussive masterpiece. The combination is just enough to not drown out the vocals yet be a strong element in the track. Every track feels danceable and something that would be heard at a party. “Faith,” like many other tracks, has unique synthesizers that create a techno and electric vibe to the music. You can get lost in the music alone not even accounting for the vocals. The intense music shows the growth that the Weeknd has seen from his prior albums. All of the songs sound to a better quality, showing that the Weeknd put enormous thought into crafting the music to bring out his meaning and voice.
Meaning
All of the Weeknd’s tracks have their own complex themes. With each song we see a different version of the reoccurring themes of loneliness, escapism, and self-hate. We see the Weeknd express his self-hatred and loneliness with “Heartless”. He tells us of all the pointless relationships he is in and his lack of love for others. He blames himself for it and loses his mental stability cause of it. Eventually, he creates a new persona of being “heartless” rather than facing his own loneliness and hatred. Later in “In Your Eyes”, the Weeknd has so much love for a girl, but he is still unfaithful to her. He believes that he loves her so much yet he is afraid of commitment and chooses to be unfaithful as an escape from his problems.
He address his stress of being lonely even while he is pushing everyone that he loves away. The album comes to a close with “After Hours” where the Weeknd completely loses himself over his prolonged loneliness that he caused due to his cheating. He apologises to his partner and wants her back because he feels so alone. The Weeknd creates a story with his songs that show his fear of being alone and how he finds escape in all he does even if it causes him to hate himself.
Conclusion
After Hours is an amazing album and should be reconsidered as one of the Weeknd’s best. Through his use of electric instruments and synthesizers along with his powerful, yet heartbroken vocals, the Weeknd knew how to create the perfect album for a breakup. He centers After Hours on themes of self-hatred, escapism, and loneliness that compel the listener to want more.
Song Rankings
- “Save Your Tears”
- “Heartless”
- “After Hours”
- “In Your Eyes”
- “Faith”
- “Blinding Lights”
- “Repeat After Me (Interlude)”
- “Escape From La”
- “Until I Bleed Out”
- “Scared To Live”
- “Too Late”
- “Hardest To Love”
- “Alone Again”
- “Snowchild”
Strongest Track
The Weeknd delivers an emotional performance with the track, “Save Your Tears.” The song is enlightened by an intense drum and heartfelt bass that creates an atmosphere that entraps the listener in sadness with the intent of escapism. We hear the Weeknd’s passionate vocals on his lost love and how he hates what he did to her. He has perfect local control on this track to make the listener feel and understand his meaning of heartbreak.
The song that is played to us is that after a messy breakup, the singer ran away from his lover resulting in her heartbreak. He knew he was a bad person to her and he thought that she should “save her tears for another day.” He wants her to move on and find someone better than him. The Weeknd creates his best performance on this track that hits the listener in their soul each time.
Final Notes
As always, take the reviews as opinion pieces. Not everyone will share the same views. As for these opinions, leave them below to share your thoughts. We also suggest subscribing to our emails to keep up to date with posts. To do so, go under the tab “Contact” and fill out the contact form. This will allow you to receive weekly emails of recaps. Finally, go give After Hours a listen for yourself.