šµ The Weekndās Final Act
Plus, Kendrick shifts critique from Drake to the culture. NiluĢfer Yanya continues to be criminally underrated.
At last weekās VMAs, Taylor Swift made history by winning Video of the Year for a record-breaking fifth time, while also securing her spot as the most awarded solo artist in the showās history. On the topic of award shows, BeyoncĆ©ās Cowboy Carter was, perhaps unsurprisingly, overlooked at the 2024 CMAs, receiving zero nominations.
Click here for a Spotify playlist with the songs mentioned in this newsletter.
BIGGEST Songs of the WeekĀ š
After debuting his new single at a live-streamed concert in SĆ£o Paulo, The Weeknd has officially released the studio version of āDancing in the Flames,ā setting the stage for Hurry Up Tomorrow, the final chapter in the trilogy of albums he began in 2019. His previous two records, After Hours and Dawn FM, featured his signature 80s-inspired synthpop sound, and āDancing in the Flamesā is no different. However, unlike the album launches for his prior records, this one doesnāt come with any bold new personas. Thereās no blinding red blazer and face bandages reminiscent of After Hours, nor the black leather suit with prosthetic wrinkles from Dawn FM.
Three years ago, we wrote about Abel Tesfayeās desire to be the biggest pop star in the world. Yet, on his path to pop superstardom, Tesfaye has embodied a Hollywood sleazebag character known as The Weeknd. Now, Tesfaye says he has said everything he wants to as The Weeknd and is ready to kill the character. āDancing in the Flamesā is likely the last lead single weāll hear under The Weeknd banner.
āDancing in the Flamesā features The Weekndās classic upbeat-yet-moody synthpop sound with a dark undercurrent. The lyrics liken a dysfunctional relationship to a car crash, where the couple survives and dances amidst the flames of the destruction. In the music video, The Weeknd crashes his car and walks toward a light that turns out to be an ambulance. It feels like a nod to the opening track of Dawn FM, where the radio host narrator Jim Carrey says, āYouāve been in the dark for way too long. Itās time to walk into the light and accept your fate with open arms.ā
The track may not be The Weekndās greatest single, but thatās a high bar. The singles from After Hours and Dawn FM, like āBlinding Lightsā and āTake My Breath,ā are some of the catchiest pop hits of the past decade. Despite this, āDancing in the Flamesā is still good, and it gets better with each listen. While it gives little indication of the direction that the rest of the album is going to take sonically, his singles are often the least interesting songs on his records. His label describes the upcoming album as the ācreative apex of the [trilogy] projectā that will grapple with existential themes, presumably related to killing The Weeknd and discovering Abel Tesfaye.
āDancing in the Flamesā is a perfectly good pop song, but I have a feeling it may not be fully appreciated without the context of the rest of the album. Tesfaye says he lovingly calls Hurry Up Tomorrow āFrankensteinā due to the variety of sounds he experimented with. While āDancing in the Flamesā doesnāt capture that, it does sound like classic The Weeknd, almost as if itās a goodbye to the character and sound that have defined his career. For the rest of the album, itās safe to say we can expect the unexpected.
As excited as we are for Hurry Up Tomorrow, we canāt help but look ahead. What comes next for Abel Tesfaye? Will it truly mark the end of The Weeknd character as he suggests? Will he release music under his birth name? And most importantly, what will this new era sound like?āāāKat Anderson
1. The Weeknd, Dancing In The Flames (Synthpop) š
2. Tate McRae, Itās ok Iām ok (Contemporary R&B) š
3. Playboi Carti, ALL RED (Trap) š
4. Charli xcx, Troye Sivan, Talk talk (Future House) šš
5. Juice WRLD, World Tour (Aquafina) (Trap) šļø
6. Teddy Swims, Bad Dreams (Pop Soul) š
7. Katy Perry, Doechii, IāM HIS, HEāS MINE (Pop Rap) šļø
8. FKA twigs, Eusexua (Art Pop / Trance) šššš
9. Shawn Mendes, Nobody Knows (Pop Soul) š
10. Eminem, 2 Chainz, Kyrie & Luka (Pop Rap) š
Discover the Stories Behind Musicās Biggest MomentsĀ š¶
From Bob Dylanās electrifying turn at the Newport Folk Festival to MTVās revolutionary launch and Cherās groundbreaking use of auto-tuneāāāthese moments are more than just historical footnotes. Theyāre the milestones that reshaped the music we listen to today.
Explore the impact of these and other iconic moments with our new newsletter, āToday In Music History.ā Partnering with Musora, weāre diving deep into the stories behind pivotal events that have influenced the course of music.
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BEST Songs of theĀ Weekš„
The last time we covered Kendrick Lamar, we broke down his triumph in one of the most vicious rap beefs of all time, further solidifying his reign as the king of hip-hop. Since then, his prestige has only grown.
This past week, after it was announced that Kendrick will be headlining next yearās Super Bowl halftime show, he dropped a surprise track on Instagram, holding up a mirror to the culture. Itās a bold, lyrically potent track that critiques an industry that has practically worshiped him this year. When you look at the string of incredible singles heās released this year, his monumental victory over Drake, and his upcoming performance on the worldās biggest stage, itās clear that Kendrick is in unprecedented hip-hop territory.
While āNot Like Usā gave us a triumphant Kendrick over a radio-friendly beat, this new untitled track, which the internet is calling āWatch the Party Die,ā finds him pivoting both sonically and lyrically. He lays down introspective bars with an Andre 3000-like flow over a quiet, jazzy instrumental. The timing of the release was deliberate, as Kendrick dropped this song on the same night as one of musicās biggest events, the VMAs. The bold statement aligns with the songās themes. Here, Kendrick moves past the Drake beef, as he sets his sights on a bigger target: the culture and music industry itself.
Throughout the track, Kendrick repeats, āI think itās time to watch the party die.ā He metaphorically grapples with the gluttonous and hedonistic culture perpetuated by the current state of rap., Heās unrelenting in the lyrics: āIf you parade in gluttony without givinā truth to youth / The graveyard is company, just tell us what casket to choose. / They party more than b*****s, tell me, what are you working for?ā Kendrick isnāt just rappingāāāheās preaching.
Critics of Kendrick have often labeled his lyrics to be too preachy, but the lyrical profundity here reminds us that Kendrick is still the socially conscious, brilliant writer that he was before the feud. āThe ones that lost it all and learnt to learn from that / A thirst for life, head inside a book ācause he concerned with that / Information thatāll change his life because he yearns for that / Dedication, findinā out whatās right cause he can earn from that,ā he raps, reminding of us his ability to spin poetry out of life lessons.
By the time we reach the trackās final lines, Kendrickās message is clear: heās ready to tear the culture down and rebuild it for a better future. āMy n***a Jay Estrada said I gotta burn it down to build it up / That confirmation real as f**k, it aināt too many real as us / Lockinā in to what I trust, lookinā outside / The kids live tomorrow, ācause today the party just died.ā It makes us wonder: did Kendrick ever really have a personal issue with Drake, or did he target him just because he represents the cultureāāāthe perfect conduit for everything he sees wrong with the industry?
At this point, a song like this from Kendrick is to be expected. But the way heās managed to capture the attention of the masses and shape the conversation in hip-hop this entire year, without even putting out an album, is astounding. In the context of whatās already been a massive year for him, Kendrickās commentary on the industry feels especially poignant. This song is the icing on the cake of another successful chapter for hip-hopās reigning champion.
āWatch the Party Dieā feels like an addition to his āThe Heartā series, the songs that always seem to precede a new project. Hip-hop heads are waiting with bated breath for Kendrickās sixth studio album, and if his output this year is any indicator, weāre in for another classicāāāif there was any ever doubt.āāāEthan Lambert
1. Kendrick Lamar, Watch The Party Die (Jazz Rap) šššš
2. FKA twigs, Eusexua (Art Pop / Trance) šššš
3. clipping., Run It (Industrial Hip Hop) ššš
4. The Garden, Ballet (Synth Punk) šš
5. Soccer Mommy, Driver (Slacker Rock) šš
6. Men I Trust, Husk (Dream Pop) šš
7. ericdoa, search & destroy (Pop Rap) šš
8. Charli xcx, Troye Sivan, Talk talk (Future House) šš
9. E L U C I D, THE WORLD IS DOG (Abstract Hip Hop) šš
10. Arca, Tokischa, Chama (Electronic) šš
Albums Spotlight šæ
British singer-songwriter NilĆ¼fer Yanya has always stood firmly on her own artistic foundation. Her early SoundCloud demos attracted the attention of One Directionās Louis Tomlinson, who was looking to create a girl group. While many would seize such an opportunity, Yanya turned him down in favor of developing herself as a musician.
A risky move, to be sure, it paid dividends for Yanya when her 2019 debut Miss Universe released to rave reviews. Her 2022 follow-up, Painless, fared even better, with The Telegraph saying it āshould rubber stamp NilĆ¼fer Yanya as a generational star.ā
Despite all this acclaim, she remains relatively unknown outside her native UK, which is a shame because sheās still killing it on her third LP, My Method Actor. Created solely between Yanya and producer Will Archer, the depth of their creative alchemy shines through. This is her most cohesive album to date, but also her most vulnerable.
Archerās production work here feels so in tune with Yanyaās expressive voice. His acoustic guitar-led instrumentals perfectly capture the moodiness of the lyrics, letting her shine as a singer and storyteller.
Look at āLike I Say (I runaway),ā a groovy piece of alt-pop with a rock edge. Archer weaves distorted electric guitars with plucky acoustic ones. Yanyaās swagger on this track stands at odds with her lyrics full of trepidation about her relationships: āLike I say, like I say, like I say / She run away / āCause I wonāt cross this line / I could really lose you in time to time.ā
Later on, the trippy āJust A Westernā seems to establish new boundaries with the subject of āLike I Say.ā Instead of continuing to be their partner in crime, Yanya says thereās now a ādarknessā in her, and she āwonāt call in a favor, wonāt do it for free anymore.ā
And then thereās the brooding āReady For Sun (touch),ā where Yanya seems to spiral, searching desperately for the salve for her mental wounds: āCanāt find my halo / Thereās nothing to scare / You see then donāt see / Twin gods they drop dead / The chance to just heal up or die / I fall apart / This canāt hurt, Iām broken inside.ā
While Yanya might be going through it personally, she has beautifully distilled that raw human emotion into art. Her sophisticated taste level is on full display here, further proof that she is criminally underrated.āāāNick Eustis
NilĆ¼fer Yanya, My Method Actor (Indie Rock) ššš
Highlights: Mutations, Like I Say (I runaway), Method Actor, Call It Love
Foxing, Foxing (Noise Rock) ššš
Highlights: Greyhound, Gratitude, Hell 99, Hall of Frozen Heads
Floating Points, Cascade (IDM) šš
Highlights: Birth 4000, Key103, Ocotillo, Fast Forward
Ginger Root, SHINBANGUMI (Hypnagogic Pop) šš
Highlights: No Problems, Only You, Show 10, All Night
julie, my anti-aircraft friend (Shoegaze) šš
Highlights: piano instrumental, feminine adornments, catalogue, clairbourne practice
Other Notable Projects: Colin Stetson The love it took to leave you, FousheĆ© Pointy Heights, The Jesus Lizard Rack, JOBA Russell Boring, keshi Requiem, London Grammar The Greatest Love, MatuĆŖ 333, Porches Shirt, Suki Waterhouse Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, Tindersticks Soft Tissue
B-Side StoriesĀ š°
Producer Four Tet has teamed up with Ellie Goulding for a new single titled āIn My Dreams.ā The two artists have a history togetherāāāFour Tet remixed Gouldingās 2014 hit āBurn,ā and she was featured on his 2020 track āBaby.ā
Speaking of longstanding collaborations, The Alchemist and ScHoolboy Q have been working together since at least 2012. Their latest addition is the smooth, jazz-influenced track āFerraris In The Rain.ā
Mastodon and Lamb of God recently concluded their joint headlining tour and are marking the occasion with a new song, āFloods of Triton,ā produced with Tyler Bates, known for scoring films like 300, Watchmen, and Halloween.
Last week, we highlighted PinkPantheressās remix of the K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIMās hit song āCRAZY.ā The group has kept the momentum going with another remix, this time featuring David Guetta.
Watch Chappell Roan make her debut performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, performing āGood Luck Babeā dressed as Joan of Arc. You can also catch performances from Sabrina Carpenter, Katy Perry, and Eminem by clicking here.
WORST Song of the WeekĀ šļø
Fat Joe, Anitta, DJ Khaled, Paradise (Pop Rap)
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