The Weeknd - My Dear Melancholy

The Weeknd

My Dear Melancholy

2018

Spotify

The build up to this album (per The Weeknd don't call it an EP) was a strange one. Small snip its on instagram, a text saying "Im just gonna drop on friday" was the only announcement then bam we have this new one My Dear Melancholy. People are already calling it a return to the drug and sex fueled Weeknd of yore, but let's not get that far ahead of ourselves. This album is certainly far more edgy than Starboy and The Weeknd has gone back to using fellow Toronto natives and other Canadains to handle the production duties rather than Daft Punk. It's a welcome change because Starboy had The Weeknd rounding the edges and making far more top 40 ready songs than He had previously. Yet it isn't full force back into "The Hills" as this record only dips it's toe back into the sexiness. He says "dick" once on "Wasted Time" and makes a few other Weeknd-ish statements, but they really feel like they are in passing at best. The thing you can't shake when listening to this record is how much The Weeknd is going back to his pre-superstar days. The hazy synths, the slow R&B and the overtly sexual lyrics are not new territory for Abel, but going back to them in such a direct way feels completely odd. In a tweet Travis Scott mentioned that this album was going to be "scary" but I can't quite see how. We know this version of The Weeknd well, we've been there and done that so what is so shocking? If you are looking for more of The Weeknd you've known for awhile than this album scratches the itch, just don't expect to hear anything new. 

The production sounds great, but it also sounds three years old. This album really feels like it was put together in a weekend (no pun intended), a really creative and exciting weekend, but one that didn't take the time to really refine and develop a sound all it's own. Throughout the record you are left wanting something deeper and more refined. The last minute of "Privilage" is just The Weeknd going on this clunky vocal run and then the album shuts off abruptly leaving you fully underwhelmed. You never get lost in his voice on this record or feel overpowered by the music, it just sort of bore from top to bottom. "Try Me" feels so similar to everything He's done before I had to go back and listen to his old record just to make sure it wasn't a cover or something. This record isn't particularity good but it also ins't all that bad, it just sort of is. That however is not a place you want to be. 

6.1 out of 10