Stevie G: Another great Weeknd for Canada
The Weeknd’s ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ album release coincides with the launch of ‘$$$4U’ by fellow Toronto artist Drake.
The Weeknd’s eagerly awaited comes after a period of unprecedented success for the Toronto artist, who released the biggest song of the decade so far, ‘ ’, just before the pandemic. Drake’s new album comes after a turbulent year in which he was publicly shamed in a damaging beef with Kendrick Lamar. His fellow Canadian PartyNextDoor s him for their t album, , in what is his first proper foray back out from the trenches in what must have been a mentally scarring year.
Both of these albums are gonna be with us all year, but are they any good?
Well, first of all, even though they both worked together in the early era of the Weeknd’s career, they were far from the global superstars they are now back then, and both of their career paths have taken different routes. Both remain massive though, and both are effectively pop stars bigger than even the aforementioned but sadly troubled Justin Bieber is these days. Both the Weeknd and Drake have been symbols of the streaming era, and both are quite prolific too, and are always releasing music or working on new projects.
Drake I would see as much more of a singles artist. He makes radio and club bangers rather than great albums, and even his best albums could do with shaving the odd track off here and there. The Weeknd also makes great singles, but I see him more in the Michael Jackson mold. He wants to make great albums too, and there is a more unified approach to his projects as a whole.
Both of these artists are no longer on great , though it’s not an all out beef like the one which so dominated 2024 with Kendrick and Drake. I think we’ve all had enough of that at this stage, and it’s good analysing these artists for their actual output rather than any other issues. I have a deep personal disdain for Drake as a person, and I can’t handle a lot of his lyrics, but he is thankfully back to making some good music at least.
The Weeknd’s has had a relatively long rollout and the album itself is a slow burner too. Massive singles such as ‘ ’ and ‘ ’ are accompanied by familiar slow burning introspective jams that recall his early mixtapes, and this is a pattern that he generally takes on his albums these days.
Sonically, the album is immense, as always, and producer Mike Dean has claimed it’s his best project yet. The sonic experimentations with Baile funk and other styles really work well, and the whole project really works as an album.
Some of the tracks take a little time, but this is the way of many great albums. It rewards repeated listening and it’s far from throwaway pop.
One minute it’s recalling ‘ ’ (on the Justice assisted ‘ ’), while elsewhere it echoes old school soul on ‘ ’. As always, the Michael Jackson influence is strong, and the Weeknd regularly nods towards the 80s for his reference points. The multitude of guests and other producers don’t distract from the fact that it’s very much a Weeknd album that doesn’t need gimmicks. It’s well worth checking out. It’s definitely gonna be one of the albums of the year.
Meanwhile, my friend Drake gets back to basics with an album that finds him doing what he does best. He’s got a good melodic ear and the Partynextdoor combination album works well as a whole, if you can get past the cliched lyrics. Some of the production is very good and many of these songs will do well. There’s some great re-interpretations and samples Aaron Hall’s ‘ ’ and as always, Drake flows fairly well. Lots of the delivery is rehashed and it can be tiresome at times but, as always, there’s a few bangers on there. I pick and choose my Drake songs, he’s not like the Weeknd, who is an album artist and takes more overall care with quality control. It’s been a good start to the year for crossover hip-hop and r&b artists.
