Monday 1/2/23 9am ET: Feature LP: The Weeknd – Dawn FM (2022)

Dawn FM is the fifth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd, released on January 7, 2022, through XO and Republic Records. It features narration by Jim Carrey, guest vocals from Tyler, the Creator and Lil Wayne, and spoken word appearances from Quincy Jones and Josh Safdie. As the album’s executive producers, the Weeknd, Max Martin and Oneohtrix Point Never recruited a variety of other producers such as Oscar Holter, Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia.

The Weeknd described the album’s concept as a state of purgatory—a journey towards the “light at the end of a tunnel”, serving as a follow-up to his fourth studio album After Hours (2020). Musically, Dawn FM is an upbeat record containing dance-pop and synth-pop songs that are heavily inspired by the 1980s new wave, funk and electronic dance music styles. The album received widespread acclaim from music critics, who complimented its production and melodies.

Three singles were released from the album, of which the lead single “Take My Breath” peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100. The Weeknd promoted Dawn FM with an Amazon Music event on the album release day, in which he served as a disc jockey and played the album to an audience. The album reached number one in 10 countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart.

To further support both After Hours and Dawn FM, the Weeknd plans to embark on the After Hours til Dawn Stadium Tour, which is scheduled to visit North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East in the summer of 2022.

1. “Dawn FM” 1:36
2. “Gasoline” 3:32
3. “How Do I Make You Love Me?” 3:34
4. “Take My Breath” 5:39
5. “Sacrifice” 3:08
6. “A Tale by Quincy” 1:36
7. “Out of Time” 3:34
8. “Here We Go… Again” (featuring Tyler, the Creator) 3:29
9. “Best Friends” 2:43
10. “Is There Someone Else?” 3:19
11. “Starry Eyes” 2:28
12. “Every Angel Is Terrifying” 2:47
13. “Don’t Break My Heart” 3:25
14. “I Heard You’re Married” (featuring Lil Wayne) 4:23
15. “Less than Zero” 3:31
16. “Phantom Regret by Jim” 2:59

The Weeknd – vocals, keyboards, programming (all tracks); bass, drums (4); background vocals (15)
OPN – keyboards, programming (1–3, 7, 10–13, 16)
Jasper Randall – choir arrangement (1, 11, 12)
Angela Parrish – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Anna Davidson – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Bri Holland – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Jessica Rotter – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Joanna Wallfisch – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Katie Hampton – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Rachel Panchal – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Sara Mann – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Sarah Margaret Huff – choir vocals (1, 11, 12)
Jim Carrey – voice (1, 7, 16)
Max Martin – keyboards, programming (2–7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16); bass (4, 15), drums (4); background vocals, guitar (15)
Oscar Holter – keyboards, programming (2–7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16); bass (4, 15), drums (4), guitar (15)
Elvira Anderfjärd – background vocals (4)
David Bukovinszky – cello (4, 11)
Shellback – drums (4)
Magnus Sjölander – percussion (4)
Mattias Bylund – strings (4, 11)
Mattias Johansson – violin (4, 11)
Quincy Jones – voice (6)
Christian Love – background vocals (8)
Benny Bock – keyboards, programming (8)
Brian Kennedy – keyboards, programming (8)
Bruce Johnston – keyboards, programming, vocal arrangement, vocals (8)
Charlie Coffeen – keyboards, programming (8)
Rex Kudo – keyboards, programming (8)
DaHeala – keyboards, programming (9)
Peter Noos Johansson – trombone (11)
Josh Safdie – voice (12)
Calvin Harris – keyboards, programming (14)

Wednesday 2/16/22 10am ET: Artist Countdown: The Weeknd Top 30 Hits

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and record producer. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, Tesfaye’s music explores escapism, romance, and melancholia, and is often inspired by personal experiences. He has received numerous accolades, including three Grammy Awards, nineteen Billboard Music Awards, fifteen Juno Awards, six American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.

Born and raised in Toronto, Tesfaye began his recording career in 2009 by anonymously releasing music on YouTube. Two years later, he co-founded the XO record label and released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, quickly gaining recognition for his dark style of contemporary and alternative R&B, and for the mystique surrounding his identity. In 2012, Tesfaye signed with Republic Records and re-released the mixtapes in the compilation album Trilogy. His debut studio album Kiss Land was released in 2013, which saw him experiment with dark wave. His chamber pop and R&B single “Earned It”, from the soundtrack to the film Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Tesfaye earned major critical and commercial success with his second studio album Beauty Behind the Madness (2015); it became his first number one album on the US Billboard 200, and became one of the year’s best-selling albums, while the singles “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills” topped the US Billboard Hot 100. Beauty Behind the Madness also won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album and was nominated for Album of the Year. His third studio album Starboy (2016), which included the number-one single of the same name, saw similar commercial success. Like its predecessor, Starboy won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Tesfaye explored new wave and dream pop with his fourth studio album After Hours (2020), which featured the number-one singles “Heartless” and “Save Your Tears”, as well as the chart record-setting “Blinding Lights”. His dance-pop inspired fifth studio album Dawn FM (2022) included the US top-ten single “Take My Breath”.

Among the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 75 million records sold, Tesfaye holds several streaming and Billboard chart records. He is the first artist to simultaneously debut on the top three on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while “Blinding Lights” is the longest-charting song in Billboard history. Considered an influential figure in contemporary popular music, Tesfaye was listed by Time as one of the world’s most influential people in 2020.

1 Blinding Lights
2 Starboy (featuring Daft Punk)
3 Can’t Feel My Face
4 Save Your Tears
5 Earned It
6 Call Out My Name
7 I Feel It Coming (featuring Daft Punk)
8 The Hills
9 Take My Breath
10 Pray for Me (with Kendrick Lamar)
11 Sacrifice
12 Moth to a Flame (with Swedish House Mafia)
13 In Your Eyes
14 After Hours
15 Love Me Harder (with Ariana Grande)
16 Try Me
17 Party Monster
18 One Right Now (with Post Malone)
19 Wasted Times
20 In the Night
21 Heartless
22 Lost in the Fire (with Gesaffelstein)
23 Over Now (with Calvin Harris)
24 You Right (with Doja Cat)
25 Gasoline
26 Out of Time
27 Reminder
28 Alone Again
29 Often
30 Elastic Heart

Sunday 3/7/21 1am ET: Feature LP: The Weeknd – After Hours (2020)

After Hours is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer the Weeknd, released on March 20, 2020, by XO and Republic Records. It was produced primarily by the Weeknd, along with a variety of producers such as DaHeala, Illangelo, Max Martin, Metro Boomin, and OPN, most of whom the Weeknd had worked with previously. The standard edition of the album has no features, although the remixes edition contains guest appearances from Chromatics and Lil Uzi Vert. Thematically, After Hours explores promiscuity, overindulgence, and self-loathing.

Prior to the album’s release, the Weeknd confirmed that After Hours would face stylistic differences to its predecessor, Starboy (2016). Music journalists have noted the album as an artistic reinvention for the Weeknd, with the introduction of new wave and dream pop influences. The artwork and aesthetic for the album’s promotional material has been described as psychedelic and being inspired by various films, such as Casino (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Joker and Uncut Gems (both 2019). The title of the album was inspired by the 1985 movie of the same name by Martin Scorsese.

After Hours was supported by four singles: “Heartless”, “Blinding Lights”, “In Your Eyes”, and “Save Your Tears”, with the first two topping the US Billboard Hot 100 and receiving platinum certification. Its title track was released as a promotional single. In March 2020, After Hours broke the record for the most global pre-adds in Apple Music history, with over 1.02 million users. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, with some naming it the Weeknd’s best work. It debuted atop the Billboard 200, earning 444,000 album-equivalent units of which 275,000 were pure sales, marking the Weeknd’s fourth number-one album in the US, and stayed atop the chart for four consecutive weeks. It also reached the top spot in 20 other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom. After Hours will be promoted with the After Hours Tour, which is set to span North America and Europe.

1. “Alone Again” 4:10
2. “Too Late” 3:59
3. “Hardest to Love” 3:31
4. “Scared to Live” 3:11
5. “Snowchild” 4:07
6. “Escape from LA” 5:55
7. “Heartless” 3:21
8. “Faith” 4:43
9. “Blinding Lights” 3:21
10. “In Your Eyes” 3:57
11. “Save Your Tears” 3:35
12. “Repeat After Me” (Interlude) 3:15
13. “After Hours” 6:01
14. “Until I Bleed Out” 3:12
15. “Blinding Lights” (Chromatics Remix) (featuring Chromatics) 4:21
16. “Save Your Tears” (OPN Remix) 3:40
17. “Heartless” (Vaporwave Remix) (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) 2:45
18. “After Hours” (The Blaze Remix) 3:58
19. “Scared to Live” (SNL Live) 3:37

 

Saturday 11/7/2020 12am ET: Feature LP: The Weeknd – Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)

Beauty Behind the Madness is the second studio album by Canadian singer the Weeknd. It was released on August 28, 2015, through XO and Republic Records. The album features guest appearances from Labrinth, Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey, with production by the Weeknd himself, Kanye West, Stephan Moccio, DaHeala, Illangelo, Ben Billions, DannyBoyStyles, Max Martin, and Ali Payami, among others.

Beauty Behind the Madness was supported by five singles: “Often”, “The Hills”, “Can’t Feel My Face”, “In the Night”, and “Acquainted”. “The Hills” and “Can’t Feel My Face” both reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. The album also includes the Academy Award-nominated song “Earned It”, which was released as a single from the soundtrack to Fifty Shades of Grey.

Beauty Behind the Madness received generally positive reviews from critics, debuting at number one in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, and in its first week recorded sales of 412,000 units in addition to streaming. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, it became the tenth best-selling album of 2015, with 1.5 million copies sold worldwide.

1. “Real Life” 3:43
2. “Losers” (featuring Labrinth) 4:41
3. “Tell Your Friends” 5:34
4. “Often” 4:09
5. “The Hills” 4:02
6. “Acquainted” 5:48
7. “Can’t Feel My Face” 3:33
8. “Shameless” 4:13
9. “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)” 4:37
10. “In the Night” 3:55
11. “As You Are” 5:40
12. “Dark Times” (featuring Ed Sheeran) 4:20
13. “Prisoner” (featuring Lana Del Rey) 4:34
14. “Angel” 6:17