Yesterday, everybody’s favorite underground obsession, The
Weeknd (intentionally spelled incorrectly) managed to sneak a studio album
under our ears. I guess somewhere hidden in those confusing tweets of his, was
a subliminal message that he was releasing his second studio album Kiss Land. Given that Weeknd is the
most known, unknown artist of all time, I’m not entirely surprised he was able
to sneak this album out under the promotional radar. And with everybody gathering extra panties in anticipation for Drake’s Nothing Was the Same album due
September 24th, Weeknd probably didn’t want to clash too much with
his OVO/XO label mate.
Kiss Land is a journey. That’s the best
way to describe it. It’s deep, and easy to get lost in. The way The Weeknds falsetto melts the tracks
together still gives you that chill mood he is most known for, but Kiss Land is a lot more dramatic. The
tracks aren’t going to have you calling ex’s at 3 in the morning like House of Balloons (2011) but it may make
you want to do a line of coke. Honestly, the whole album sounds like the soundtrack
to a weeklong drug binge. The dramatics and eeriness of it blurs musical genre
lines in a good way. It’s hard to tell whether you’re listening to a weird R&B
ballad or a slow pop record.
The
whole production of it is smooth, maybe a little too smooth at times. All 14
songs sound melted together, leaving the individual tracks no real distinction
from one another. The funny thing is, as musically powerful as the album is,
Weeknd still leaves his lyrical content sexually vulgar and poetically literal.
His track Belongs to the World, and Pretty, makes being a hoe desirable and
if you listen to Love in the Sky for
too long alone in a dark room, you’re going to touch yourself. As much as this album attempts to stray away
from the pop and R&B sound, I can’t help but hear the spirit of Michael Jackson
throughout. I’m actually almost convinced that Weeknd’s collaboration with Pharrell
Williams titled, Wonderdust was
intentionally produced for the Dangerous
(1991) album. Even though his Drake
feature Live For was probably intended
to be a classic, I didn’t hear anything particularly lasting about it. We’ll
probably blast it in our cars for a minute but I’m certain the track will be forgotten
about by 2014.
Overall, Kiss Land is a good album if not based on the amazing production quality
alone. But it’s definitely not for the musically weak minded, and it’s definitely
not a traditional club banger. If someone were to hear you jamming to it alone
in your room, they would be convinced you were on some sort of drug much harder
than recreational weed. It’s definitely a mood setter; I’m just not sure what
type of mood exactly. If you’re willing to be turned on and confused at the
same time, it wouldn’t be a waste of your $9.99. The Weeknd definitely mind fucked
me with this one.
Stalker Notes: twitter @theweeknd
Kiss Land is now available on ITunes
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