The twenty-one year old Canadian crooner, Abel Tesfaye, who also goes
by his stage name The Weeknd, has been blowing up in the underground music
game. Back in 2010 some songs of his leaked onto the internet, however his
identity was unknown up until he opened a Twitter account. He came out with a digitally
released mixtape trilogy titled House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of
Silence.
The first release, House of Balloons, was released on March 21, 2011.
This mixtape was the start of the Weeknd’s popularity. It was also nominated
for The Polaris Music Prize, but unfortunately for him he lost to Arcade Fire
with their album The Suburbs. Thursday, released on August 18, 2011, and Echoes
of Silence, released December 21, 2011, also received many great reviews. The
Weeknd plans on re-releasing this trilogy with extra content, and in 2012 working on his debut album. This singer has been receiving
praise from a number of credible music publications such as MTV, BET, and
Rolling Stone, just to name a few.
Tesfaye has gained some of his celebrity from well-known rapper/artist
Drake. The Weeknd is signed under OVO (October’s Very Own), which is also
Drake’s label. Being a good label mate, Drake linked The Weeknd’s mixtapes to
his own blog site octobersveryown.net and was seen tweeting lyrics of The
Weeknd’s songs. This genre The Weeknd uses is not your typical smooth R&B;
it’s more like a creepy, eerie R&B mixed with a little splash of hip-hop.
This is definitely a different sound from any old regular genre that we are
used to listening to. When it comes to success, The Weeknd can only go up from
here. With the fanbase he has gained, it is said that his debut album will have
great first week sales.
To download the free digitally released trilogy, you can visit The Weeknd's official website the-weeknd.com
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