Literally, there are only a few days of 2022 and some bands and artists released albums that sound great. However, no one has excited the world as much as The Weeknd, who after a lot of rumors and announcements that blew our minds, is officially back with a new album called Dawn FM and we are sure that we will listen to the songs until we drop. next months.
As you may recall, since the premiere of After Hours and the enormous success it had with hits like “Save Your Tears” or “Blinding Lights”, Abel Tesfaye dedicated himself to promoting it with videos and virtual presentations. After presenting this album to us, we saw him putting together a great show at halftime of the Super Bowl in 2021, but apparently his plans were to return to the studio to compose new songs, and the result of all this was a single called “Take My Breath”.
The Weeknd is back with ‘Dawn FM’
For a few months, The Weeknd hinted that he was working on his fifth record material, which made all his fans very excited. In between he gave us news that left us with a square eye, like that he is producing a series for HBO that he himself will star in. As if this was not enough, he also collaborated with a lot of artists such as Swedish House Mafia, Post Malone and even Rosalía, little was known about his next studio album.
Finally, during the first days of 2022, Abel Tesfaye confirmed that on January 7 he would release his new album that would be called Dawn FM. In addition, he revealed that within this plate made up of 11 songs he would have several invited artists and to finish he showed the official cover. After a few days of waiting, this material finally reached all the music streaming platforms and in case you still don’t dare to listen to it, here we tell you why you can’t let it go.
And these are our reasons Why can’t you miss ‘Dawn FM’, The Weeknd’s new album.
An unusual but interesting concept
To begin with, it should be mentioned that The Weeknd was very keen on the concept of Dawn FM. From past albums it was very clear to us that beyond composing songs and putting them all together in one album, he wanted to tell a story and for all those songs to live in his own universe. We already saw it with Starboy and After Hours, that is why this time he resorted to this resource again and the truth is that he once again managed to create an ideal space for the 11 songs of his new material.
Now, Abel takes us on a musical journey in which his songs can be heard inside an eighties radio station (very much in the style of what the Queens of the Stone Age did with Songs for the Deaf). So throughout the 52-minute duration there is a very special voice that guides us (and that we will tell you later who it is) and that gives a different touch to this record material combined with interludes that provide moments of Calm down.
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Completely exploit the retro sound (but futuristic … ha)
It’s been quite clear to us for a long time that The Weeknd is a fan of a lot of popular music from the 70s and 80s. This he has explored very well in his previous works, but on Dawn FM he takes all of this to the next level because it explodes to such an extent that despite acknowledging all its influences –and has never denied them–, it can be seen that Tesfaye finally found “a sound of her own” taking as a reference a bit of the rhythms of all this time.
And hold on, because if you felt that on your previous albums you felt that Abel traveled to the past to transform the songs of those decades and return to the present to present them to a new generation, on your new record material this raises you to the tenth power. That can be seen in each of the songs that, in addition to having an impeccable production, also lets us see that at least for now, this will be the sound for which he wants everyone to recognize them.
It has incredible musical collaborations
We know that within the vast majority of The Weeknd’s records, there are always several high-caliber musical collaborators within the industry. Many times their names appear on the tracklist or flat go unnoticed, but the singer never neglects the possibility of working with spectacular artists. And of course a lot of amazing musicians also participate in Dawn FM who add another wave to the new Abel Tesfaye songs.
To give you an idea of what we are saying, on his new album names like Max Martin appear in production – responsible for launching Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and forging the pop sound of the last 20 years – and Oneohtrix Point Never ( experimental musician and producer who’s been doing amazing things for a long time). As if this weren’t enough, he also has songs in which he is accompanied by neither more nor less than Swedish House Mafia, Tyler, The Creator and Lil Wayne. Pure heavyweight.
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The legendary Quincy Jones has a special participation
To speak of Quincy Jones is to mention one of the most important producers in the history of popular music. Throughout his career he has worked with legendary artists such as Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Billy Preston, Donna Sunmer and more, the list could go on and on. However, now he did surprise us by appearing on one of the songs on The Weeknd’s new album.
The person in charge of the sound of the spectacular Thriller participates in the song “A Tale By Quincy”, where in the purest style of Daft Punk with Giorgio Moroder, Jones tells us a highly personal story of his childhood through a seductive super funk beat . Without a doubt, we did not expect that someone of his importance would dare to reveal in a song a very intense moment of his life and the truth is that one of the highest points of the album.
Even Jim Carrey was present on the album
Perhaps the biggest surprise at Dawn FM is the special participation of an acting and comedy legend, Jim Carrey himself. Yes, it is not a joke, since he announced to the collaborators of the album his name appeared and the truth is that many stopped their eyebrows when they learned that the protagonist of Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind would have a musical appearance. But to be very honest, we were completely surprised by the role that he took in some moments of the album.
To begin with, his voice opens the album and he is the announcer that we can listen to in different interludes. Although his most important role goes right to the end with the last song called “Phantom Regret by Jim”, because in it he not only tells us a fascinating story full of murky moments and some hope at the end, he is also credited as a composer and even producer. of the roll. Could Carrey surprise us by launching himself as a musician?
There are songs that will surprise you
We already talked about how the tracks on this new The Weeknd album feel like a leap into the past with a modern twist. And yes, he takes very good advantage of the eighties beats, synthesizers, rhythm machines and even takes certain vocal elements from this era for his songs; However, within the tracklist there are some quite pleasant surprises that go a bit out of the formula that the Canadian artist adopted for a long time.
One of them is “Less Than Zero”. Despite the fact that a certain retro influence is felt in this theme – and of course we cannot ignore it -, instead of presenting us with a song to throw the dance or inviting us to throw a party, Abel Tesfaye presents an extremely calm ballad whose letter describes the last stage of a relationship and how one of the parties feels less than the other. To be honest, the album needed a moment of relaxation and this song gives it to us.
On ‘Dawn FM’, The Weeknd Shows His Maturity
If something has become very clear to us in recent years, it is that The Weeknd is one of the most important artists we have today. Like it or not many, he has all the cards to deserve this honor, and despite the fact that many think that he has stagnated a bit since he found a certain comfort zone with vintage music, we cannot deny that despite all that It can be said of him, he always knows how to manage to create catchy and memorable hits. (Here is the review of the album)
However, on Dawn FM we can hear Abel Tesfaye’s highest point of maturity to date. He is aware of his strengths and weaknesses, but instead of trying to do something that may not turn out as he hopes, he decides to focus on the formula that he knows works for him and experiments with it to deliver an album that has moments of light and dark (that They could describe everything we have experienced since 2020). And at once we sign you that it will break it and it will be one of the albums of the year.
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