"Jump" is a song by the American rock band Van Halen. Sam: It's telling that to become really and truly successful—in the 2016 pop music sense of the word—Tesfaye had to largely abandon the existential malaise that made people care about him in the first place, or at least cloak it in less dour instrumentals. Billboard Hot 100. After watching the surprise OVO performances at FADER FORT in Austin this past weekend, I actually feel good about where post-Weeknd R&B has ended up: projects fronted by men, for men—and I use that descriptor loosely—don’t have to be harsh and gloomy to pop off. In this world, sunrises are not beautiful, they're gross and they taste like stale drugs and bad decisions. I'd walk around Kensington Market and Queen West and the U of T campus listening to it, absorbing this story that's actually imbued with so much self-loathing and love-hate for the excess of youth and the restless boredom that city life can also breed. The sex, the drugs, the corresponding agony and allure of the hedonism he wades in. “‘House of Balloons’ literally changed the sound of pop music before my eyes. Were so many artists so out of touch with their feelings that it took The Weeknd to allow them to feel okay about looking at their darker sides? The project invaded this stale area, … But it wasn’t until Beauty Behind the Madness last year that I finally became something of a fan—the Weeknd’s still sad as hell, except the backdrop of his nihilism is arena tours, supermodel girlfriends, clingy friends. Placing face with name is fundamental during this stage, yet the Weeknd presented nothing more than his music for consumption and analysis. What I still can't figure out about the album, though, is how to avoid this sort of destructive imitation. Maybe they recognize the concept of that state, minus the actual feelings associated with it, like advanced robots. Or is it just going to be rammed even harder into the ground until we can't take it anymore? These elements have made the Weeknd a luminary—one who performs cocaine dependency ballads at the Grammys and orchestral anthems from mainstream BDSM films at the Oscars. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalizedrating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, House of Balloons received a weighted average sc… How did—or how does—The Weeknd intersect with that? Its channeling of temptation’s distinct gleam is a significant part of its legacy. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive. COMPLEX participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COMPLEX gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Sam, Rawiya: what is House of Balloons legacy? your password songs being the kind of clean, quiet storm vibe that's directly counter to the seismically-processed sound the Weeknd popularized. He'd probably view that as a burden, but I look at it as the ultimate artistic statement—accident or not. I don't mean that as a dis at all, because even Abel is off that. Abel Tesfaye now dances confidently under a spotlight he’s earned over the course of five projects, but his debut, House of Balloons, and its singular darkness remains the Weeknd at his absolute best. Half a decade later, we have the answers to these questions. The Weeknd shines brightest when unbound; when his sole concern with beauty comes from a place of depravity. Abel Tesfaye now dances confidently under a spotlight he’s earned over the course of five projects, but his debut, House of Balloons, and its singular darkness remains the Weeknd at his absolute best. With House of Balloons, the Weeknd expertly captured how vices are used to circumvent reality and illicit substances and experiences guide behavior. It's maybe a little bit our fault for committing so instantly to the world he presented. Writer Sam Hockley-Smith joins FADER Canada editor Anupa Mistry and FADER senior writer Rawiya Kameir for a discussion about the initial rollout behind House of Balloons, how the album provided a new framework for music, the excess of youth culture, and why every Weeknd album since still must be measured against his drug-dazed debut. Direct Influence of PNL for Le Monde Chico, this mixtape has known a singular history, between mystery about the author's identity and conflicts. By 2011, R&B was two decades removed from the introduction of Jodeci and R. Kelly’s influential style of sweaty advances. The album, for me, was all—100%, 1000%!—about “Glass Table Girls,” the second half of the third track on the tape, and one that distilled every Weeknd cliche into one song: cocaine, all-night parties, and the unique feeling of complete and utter loneliness that comes with looking around at the world you've created for yourself after partying nonstop. That's how I first encountered The Weeknd. The album was documenting a nascent scene that has gone on to shift the cultural paradigm of Toronto, and it did so through a sound that has had a lasting effect on contemporary pop music. … The Weeknd‘s ‘House of Balloons‘ mixtape, which features samples of Cocteau Twins, Beach House and Siouxsie & The Banshees, will also get a … What do I remember about the time when the Weeknd popped? Back to House of Balloons — aside from his music, people were drawn to The Weeknd because of his image. "They don’t want my love, they just want my potential," the jaded singer declares on the second half of "The Party & The After Party." I don't want that for him, and I don't think he wants it for himself. Rawiya: Drugs aren’t new to R&B or hip-hop—pills, coke, lean, weed, whatever, have been a presence in black music for decades. Bobby Hundreds and ThankYouX on the Future of Cryptomedia, Daniel Kaluuya on Chadwick Boseman Story, His Unimpressed Mom & Judas & the Black Messiah | 360 With Speedy Morman, Jake Paul Rips Floyd Mayweather for Taking Shots at Him, Best Hip-Hop Producer Alive: Hit-Boy on Working with Nas, Big Sean, & Benny | 360 With Speedy Morman, performs cocaine dependency ballads at the Grammys, orchestral anthems from mainstream BDSM films at the Oscars. The beat during the first half of the song feels like something straight out of “Yeezus” while the second half sounds like it belongs on “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” The Weeknd does have the vocal range to make it work but this song is bound to be one of this album’s talking points due to West’s heavy influence. Neither his songwriting nor subject matter were cavalier, but his overall aesthetic was enticing. What do you do when the art you make arrives so fully formed that it becomes a blueprint for copycats? The performance for the University of Toronto's Black Students Association popped up on YouTube, but other than that he wasn't, like, doing open mics or that kind of thing. The Weeknd spoke about the influence of House of Balloons during a 2020 interview with Variety, claiming he was both flattered and upset by artists whom he believed were biting his sound. He specifically pointed to Usher and his 2012 song “Climax.” “ House of Balloons literally changed the sound of pop music before my eyes,” he said. The Weeknd spoke about the influence of House of Balloons during a 2020 interview with Variety, claiming he was both flattered and upset by artists whom he believed were biting his sound. House of Balloons was up for a Polaris Music Prize in 2011. House of Balloons framed a certain lifestyle and mood: twilight loft parties where 20-somethings shed their morals under the dual influence of drugs and damaged relationships. It made the very concept of contentment seem lame. All of these exchanges, duration or reasoning notwithstanding, are unhealthy. The lack of information about him—his affiliations; his ethnicity; his politics—was engrossing, but the anonymity only drove the intrigue. Everything We Know About Migos’ ‘Culture III’, Solidarity in New York: “Unfortunately in This Country, Dead Lives Matter More”, How to Get Waves: With Guapdad 4000 | Complex News, What Is NFT? A lot of pseudo-derisive commentary from people who had no idea how weird R&B had been in the neo-soul era (and prior), and a lot of positioning of Abel—as well as Frank Ocean—as the saviors of modern soul. The project invaded this stale area, soldering genres together to bring much-needed originality to a template mired by stagnancy at the decade’s turn. A list of fundraisers you can support right now. On Beauty Behind the Madness, the Weeknd harnessed his catalog’s best, but, above all, reignited the spark of his origin. This was music I'd been looking for: a lurid, unblinking look at the loneliness of partying late night without glamorizing it. It was inconceivable that an unknown artist would launch their career this way and it sounded like it could’ve been multiple guys, so theories abounded and interest peaked—sort of like what's happening these days with dvsn, another OVO-affiliated project with an unnamed vocalist. It's essentially navel gaze-y nostalgia—good and bad—for the banality of suburbs and it's a fine record but, as I listened to them both, I kept thinking about how Balloons was making a similar, parallel statement, about the city and the present. “ House of Balloons literally changed the sound of pop music before my eyes,” he told Variety’s Jem Aswad. But, for complex socio-cultural reasons that are worthy of a discussion of their own, the post-rap narrative has always positioned the black man as distributor, not consumer, of hard drugs. Even so, Balloons' legacy is massive. It was released in December 1983 as the lead single from their album 1984.It is Van Halen's only single to reach number one on the U.S. House of Balloons got everything right, which is why it caused such a seismic shift in music. I don't want to downplay the super intoxicating alchemy of sounds and Tesfaye's obvious vocal talent—“Loft Music" does this perfectly for me; the song's first half feels like collapsing slow motion into a massive, plush hotel bed. The Weeknd is stirring up debate online after talking to Variety about the influence his trademark aesthetic of moody, dark R&B had on the world of pop music – namely, “Climax” by Usher.. Clearly, the transatlantic influence extended beyond that of the Folies upon the Follies. His signature downtempo haze was the stencil for present-day R&B’s tranquilized sound, but every characteristic that has made him a star was present in 2011. To some extent, especially to people adjacent to Toronto’s music industry, Balloons was understood to be Doc’s personal project; guys around the city had claimed to have worked with him on similar-sounding R&B projects around the same time. That idea was eventually nullified, but for all of the personality and behavior that’s ascribed to The Weeknd—the drugs, the so-called “rape-y” lyrics, the antisocial tendencies—it wasn’t until much more recently that he was acknowledged having any real auteurial intent. The Weeknd’s music covered topics similar to Trey Songz’s "Can’t Be Friends," but he employed a different approach. Olive's career continued to thrive, and the publicity mills continued to churn out favorable copy: In 2013 during a Reddit AMA, he revealed that the home is a real place and is located at 65 Spencer Avenue in the Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto. The Weeknd's creative director La Mar Taylor describes the unconventional means by which the 'House of Balloons' cover art came to be. Was it one person, or a group? What’s equally unsurprising is that his ascent required the sacrifice of his mystique. The first words sung on "High for This," House of Balloons’ opener, ring like assurance preceding some new experience combining sex and drugs. Welcome! Exactly 10 years after releasing his debut mixtape House of Balloons, The Weeknd is reissuing the project in its "original incarnation." Another major reason House of Balloons stood out is because it was made without regard for commercial success. The things we know are harmful are often the most attractive. House of Balloons received widespread critical acclaim, and it is considered by many to be one of the most influential R&B releases in recent years, specifically the 2010s. That’s probably why I wasn’t a huge fan of the project when it came out. It always felt like a lifeline in an era of blogging that was more about discovering new artists than it was about coming up with any kind of concrete opinion about these artists (the OVO blog was an obvious precursor for Drake's long-running obsession with putting his stamp on new artists before anyone else). Sometimes repeated imitation is what leads to evolution; he may have been the genesis of a specific sound, but he’s not its best vocalist or songwriter. It is close to perfect in that it does all the things people hate Tesfaye for doing. Many wondered if this “House of Balloons” was real, as did we. Multiple media outlets pulled Weeknd’s quote from Variety’s cover story published Wednesday, in which he discusses the far-reaching influence of his 2011 debut mixtape “House of Balloons.” House of Balloons speaks to everyone’s dark side: the shrouded after hours fantasies that were never acted upon, the purple-tinted memories, or the routines commenced when the clock strikes midnight and intoxication takes command. It looms large over everything we've heard. The 30-year-old singer was discussing his extremely popular 2011 mixtape, House of Balloons, and its influence on the music industry. " And although the Weeknd’s proclivity for the self-destructive has made him one of pop’s new favorite sons, he was most impressive in the days when he was more raw, more damaged, and less accessible, which isn’t to say that the Weeknd has made a complete 180, either. House of Balloons … Does this kind of imitation lessen the impact or quality—assuming you think it's good—of HoB? House of Balloons, in tandem with Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra, was responsible for a sharp pivot within R&B. Remember when he talked about dreading the feeling of happiness in the New York Times? Was the Weeknd a lone artist? It’s wild to think that it’s already been five has since HoB’s release. Watch Megan Thee Stallion, The Weekend, and more’s AMAs 2020 performances. His music wasn’t released as much as it suddenly materialized in early 2011, with the typical new artist initiatory period superseded by the most basic of questions. We all sit around on Saturday evenings for OVO Sound Radio these days, but Drake was always curating—remember his blog? Rawiya Kameir: One of the biggest questions when House of Balloons dropped was: what R&B singer’s anonymous project is this? For his 10th birthday, House of Balloons from The Weeknd is finally out on streaming platforms. This mix is actually glitchier than the mastered version; laid atop a heavy sample of Siouxsie And The Banshees’ 1980 single “Happy House,” “House Of Balloons… Maybe they're not doing that. Can you even see redemption when you're so deep in it? Anupa: I am pretty obsessed with dvsn right now, and I know that a lot of it has to do with his (their?) While House of Balloons is novel in its cohesion and commitment to the sinister, The Weeknd was not alone as a Black artist employing “white” music to … On "Wicked Games," the Weeknd strays in temporary pursuit of it via the girlfriend experience, and the search is motivated by a lack of confidence. Here’s a Timeline of His Legal Troubles. ©2021 The Fader, Inc. All rights reserved. “Trust me girl / You’ll wanna be high for this.” Quite the bold statement coming from someone who you couldn’t even make out in a crowd. As the clamor around the mixtape escalated to a full-on roar and as Tesfaye became a conversation point between friends, I began to put the pieces together: he’d been recording at Dream House Studios on Bulwer with Doc McKinney (who was a key Esthero collaborator); my homegirl briefly worked with him at American Apparel and said he'd sometimes play his music—though no one knew it was him—and tracks had been floating around on YouTube. But if we're going to talk about why HoB prompted a shift in the way R&B was talked about I'd like to put the onus back on the critics and the consumers: what was it in those themes—that Sam has set up really well—that made the Weeknd so palatable to fans but also people whose critical take was that it's “alt?” I know Kurt was on the right side of personal politics but I actually really like that parallel, at least with regard to HoB, because both artists hit on a particular wounded, kind of perverse, strain of male ennui. In five years, he’s turned the corner from mysterious entity to Academy-certified superstar. The Poetic Influence Behind The Weeknd’s 'My … The Weeknd House of Balloons album, his debut, was released on March 21, 2011. Like Drake, Tesfaye is really good at making sadness a commodity. A song that can evoke a feeling so palpable deserves attention. Obscurity is seductive. They'd won a Grammy for that record: it was clearly a fan favorite and the kind of grandiose statement rock album that used to define (white) Canadian identity. "Coming Down" and "The Knowing" are admissions. The Weeknd ’s debut mixtape, House of Balloons, made a massive impact upon arrival in 2011. How House of Balloons Changed R&B Five years since its veiled release, a conversation about The Weeknd’s debut and its influence on contemporary pop music. Does perpetual nihilism offer a chance for redemption? His music has evolved with his confidence, and Beauty Behind the Madness represents the polished middle ground between unscrupulous impulses and sobering radio bait, but still feels reigned in. The Weeknd’s brand of withdrawn bacchanal was always destined for greatness, so him settling onto his perch as a deviant pop star is unsurprising. Where they were characterized by passion, overt testosterone and blow-your-back-out braggadocio, the Weeknd utilized something else: vulnerability. That's not Tesfaye's fault. Kiss Land, on the other hand, was his introduction to the masses, but failed to distinguish itself because the Weeknd was struggling to find the identity and spark that House of Balloons brought. Does it get the recognition it deserves for keeping our inboxes filled with mixtapes by whiny, auto-tuned R&B dudes? your username. Did the Drake stamp mean his sonic engineer and fellow Toronto native Noah "40" Shebib was involved? It’s even wilder to consider the trajectory of his career in that time span. It’s hard to picture The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) as anything but an international … "The Hills" is as licentious and "Tell Your Friends" as explicitly candid as anything on House of Balloons, but the stretch of the album’s mainstream appeal came at the expense of the mixtape’s very specific edge. Exactly 10 years after releasing his debut mixtape House of Balloons, The Weeknd is reissuing the project in its “original incarnation.”The XO artist an In this new generation most, if not all, have some sort of underlying Weeknd inspiration or influence. In March of 2011, when he released House of Balloons—five years ago today—little was known about the entity then only known as The Weeknd. And, ironically, the Weeknd’s feathery voice added to the weight of music that was dark, but merely the companion for tales of degeneracy that were even darker. It was one of those weird things where it was never super clear who actually was looking at that blog. It spawned a vast legion of imitators, all tracing song lyrics in mounds of cocaine on mirrors at 6 a.m. Any act of myth-making involves pulling from pre-existing sources, dialing in on a zeitgeist and then expanding it into an entire universe. Anupa, what do you remember about that era regarding how R&B was talked about? On the former, he cops to his paramour’s time only being valued when his high is fading; the latter is a joint mea culpa of infidelity and his indifference towards its role in a relationship’s demise. "What You Need" is a syrupy come-hither that, despite being an eerie indecent proposal, is undeniably sexy. But his weapon wasn’t a Babyface Tender Lover type of sensitivity; the Weeknd was a wounded lothario whose suffering manifested as nihilism. If so, what did he look like? 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