The Weeknd's Dawn of a New Era

The Weeknd’s fifth studio album is a perfect showcase of the artist’s range as he experiments with a new sound, a deep concept and unexpected collaborators.

The album is a beautiful, yet frightening, depiction of life and death.The music is upbeat, catchy, and nostalgic, surprisingly blending into a haunting overall theme. “Picture the album being like the listener is dead” said the Weeknd, “they're stuck in this purgatory state, which I always imagined would be like being stuck in traffic waiting to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. And while you're stuck in traffic, they got a radio station playing in the car, with a radio host guiding you to the light and helping you transition to the other side. So it could feel celebratory, could feel bleak, however you want to make it feel, but that's what 'The Dawn' is for me.”

Even the music videos that accompany the album depict the artist’s own mortality with him appearing as an older version of himself (as he also does on the album’s cover). His younger self even attacks the older self in what appears to be a fight for immortality. Furthermore, the video for the song ‘Sacrifice’ shows dancing grim reaper-like figures that abduct the singer and 'Take My Breath' fittingly features oxygen masks.

As for collaborations, the album holds spoken word tracks that feature Quincy Jones and Jim Carrey. Jones tells an intimate story of his own traumatic childhood and Carrey appears throughout the album as the fictional 103.5 Dawn FM radio station host. Carrey also appears in the music video for the song ‘Out of Time’. One of the Weeknd’s favorite films is Carrey’s ‘The Mask’ and in this video, Carrey puts a mask on the singer: “Now I get to do this thing with him. He allowed me, which was amazing, somebody who was inspired by me, allows me to say some things on his album…Then I did the video and I realized in the middle of it, ‘Oh, wow, I’m now putting the mask on you. Tag, you’re it.’” (Carrey told Extra a few months back). The album also features guest vocalists, Tyler the Creator and Lil Wayne.

Dawn FM is a worthy new entry into the Weeknd’s already compelling repertoire.

Favorite song on the album: Gasoline