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The Weeknd’s Albums, Ranked
You can hear traces of his DNA everywhere.
He levels up his gift for seamless sample stitching, opening “Secrets” with words from Jeff Buckley ’s mouth and interpolating two ’80s New Wave hits — the Romantics’ “Talking in Your Sleep” and Tears for Fears’ “Pale Shelter” — into a tale of an insecure lover, imagining his partner cheating on him in his dreams. He dabbles in an electro-pop take on baile funk with Anitta on “São Paulo”; he recruits Italian disco god Giorgio Moroder for the narcoleptic “Big Sleep”; and he gazes into “The Abyss” with his favorite muse, Lana Del Rey. It’s texturally gorgeous, melding Oneohtrix Point Never’s sci-fi synths with Max Martin’s musical mathematics on tracks like “How Do I Make You Love Me?” and “Is There Someone Else?” More than anything, the rearview mirror POV allows for the Weeknd’s most honest self-reflection to date, offering explorations into his own psyche without prejudice or celebration, something that didn’t seem possible before.
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