Beauty behind the madness of The Weeknd

The Weeknd. That is one strange name. So I checked on how The Weeknd got his name. It turned out that he is Canadian, born in Toronto, but of Ethiopian descent. His real name is Abel Makkaren Tesfage. The name The Weeknd came about when he started uploading his music on the Net. He named his site The Weekend, like he was making music for relaxing weekends.

When he got noticed and got a label deal, it was thought best to keep his name. But there was a problem. There is a Canadian band called The Weekend. To get around this, it was decided to remove the letter e from end. With the spelling changed, the name is now different but you get to keep the same sound. And that is how Abel became The Weeknd.

The name though is the least of what Abel should have worried about. This guy could have called himself any name and I am sure the result would have been the same. He has all the makings of an innately talented artist who was born to be a star. He has a voice made for R&B with hints of the later Michael Jackson. His music is of the alternative sort, fused as it is with hints of middle-Eastern rhythms. It is a style that is his very own.

Best of all, he writes beautiful, romantic lyrics and the more heartbroken his tale is, the better he sounds. For some unknown reason, this has been the trend in hit songs these past months. Most of the big sellers are soulful, torchy, sentimental songs. Think Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Adele. The songs of The Weeknd turned out to be a perfect fit.

The Weeknd’s latest album is Beauty Behind The Madness, that from the onset was a huge success. Time Magazine named the single The Hills one of the 10 best songs of 2015 and also called it the darkest No. 1 single of the year. “The song’s video finds the R&B star (The Weeknd) escaping a car crash. How fitting: His sinister melodies make The Hills, like some wrecks, hard to turn away from.”

There was not much turning away from The Weeknd last year and at the rate this guy is going, I doubt if there will be much this year. Abel is literally on a hitmaking roll. The seven nominations he received from the Grammys are his biggest, juiciest plum of the moment.

These are Album of the Year and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Beauty Behind The Madness; Best R&B Performance, Best R&B Song and Best Song Written for Visual Media for Earned It that was used in the soundtrack of the movie 50 Shades of Grey; and Best Pop Solo Performance and Record of the Year for the single Can’t Feel My Face.

Beauty Behind The Madness also made No. 5 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 50 Best Albums for 2015. Make sure you listen to this one. It is one of the most impressive I have ever heard. And keep watch on The Weeknd. He is one hell of an artist.

The other cuts are Real Life, Losers featuring Labrinth; Tell Your Friends, Often; Acquainted; Shameless; In The Night; As You Are; Dark Times featuring Ed Sheeran; Prisoner featuring Lana Del Rey; and Angel.

The beginning of 2016 found these albums leading the list of Billboard’s Top 200: 25 by Adele; Purpose by Justin Bieber; Royalty by Chris Brown; That’s Christmas To Me by Pentatonix; Star Wars: The Force Awakens soundtrack; Made In The A.M. by One Direction; Traveller by Chris Stapleton; 1989 by Taylor Swift; Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd; 21 also by Adele.

Blurryface by Twenty One Pilots; A Head Full Of Dreams by Coldplay; Pentatonix by Pentatonix; Christmas by Michael Bublé; Revival by Selena Gomez; Now 56 by Various Artists; Kill The Lights by Luke Bryan; Storyteller by Carrie Underwood; Montevallo by Sam Hunt; and King Push by Pusha T.

The Top 20 songs in the Hot 100 are: Hello also by Adele; Sorry by Justin Bieber; Love Yourself also by Bieber; Hotline Bling by Drake; What Do You Mean? again by Bieber; Same Old Love by Selena Gomez; Here by Alessia Cara; Stitches by Shawn Mendes; The Hills by The Weeknd; Like I’m Gonna Lose You by Meghan Trainor featuring John Legend.

All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey; Jumpman by Drake & Future; Stressed Out by twenty one pilots; 679 by Fetty Wap featuring Remy Boyz; In The Night by The Weeknd; Antidote by Travis Scott; On My Mind by Ellie Goulding; Don’t by Bryson Tiller; Watch Me by Silento; and Roses by The Chainsmokers featuring Rozes.

Now while Adele is No. 1 in both the album and singles lists, Bieber comes in second in both. And while Adele has two albums in the Top 10, Bieber has three singles in the Top 10 of the Hot 100. I guess that sort of evens things out between the hottest artists of the moment.

And before I forget, the also hot The Weeknd has a new single In The Night that might just climb higher. If that happens he will have four consecutive No. 1 songs.