The Weeknd - Dawn FM
R&B – Released January 7, 2022 – 16 songs, 52 mins
LUNDI
One day we’ll have TSR FM, but for now we march on with pop superstar the Weeknd’s latest album Dawn FM.
Me driving in my car: stop with the damn commercials and play some music!
Me listening to Dawn FM: wow very cool concept adding in radio effects to make it sound like an actual station.
The human brain ladies and gentleman.
Anyway. What a front half of an album! Absolute killer dance-pop tracks from Gasoline to Sacrifice with stand out single Take My Breath mixed in between. It’s a hectic pace that simply couldn’t be kept up and the overall album does take a hit because of it. Once fellow Canadian Jim Carrey introduces 30 minutes of soft sounds around the midpoint, the album encounters some struggles. Aside from a Tyler, the Creator feature and closing song Less Than Zero there isn’t much to grab you in the back half. Still the opening of the album is so good that it meets the overall pop formula strived for.
Abel has writing and producing credits on all tracks, however it’s hard to say how much his finger prints are on the overall album given the collection of support listed. Still the writing holds up well for pop music and as with all the Weeknd albums, the production is just fantastic. Even in the back half of the album the songs are mixed well.
Dawn FM is another notch in the belt for the Weeknd and at this point it’s hard to argue that he’s not the biggest musician in the world. Superstar status with no sign of slowing down.
Overall Rating: 8.3/10
Favourite Song: Take My Breath
ROZ
The Weeknd has been a busy man. Fresh off of his 2020 studio album release After Hours, Mr. Tesfaye is back again here in early 2022 with Dawn FM. A concept album; the Canadian singer-songwriter takes you on a journey - quite literally - in the passenger seat of his car as you both suffer through gridlock traffic on the road to the afterlife. What better way to distract yourself from your impending doom than flicking on the radio, where the Grinch himself serenades you with the stylings of a lo-fi 1980’s disc jockey?
Now that’s a sentence that has never been written before in the history of the internet.
It cannot be stressed enough how well produced this album is. With sixteen producer credits and a tracklist influenced by genres and artists of the past, Dawn FM harnesses the 80’s retro sound and all of the analog goodness that comes along with it. The Juno-106, the Moog Modular, the Roland “TR” and “TB” line of instruments - it’s all there, and it all sounds amazing. The radio station concept is executed perfectly, with songs transitioning seamlessly from one to the other (How Do I Make You Love Me to Take My Breath is especially pleasing). Phantom Regret by Jim is more of a poem than it is a song, and perfectly encapsulates the themes of the record while closing the show in a very unique way.
The album peaks early with tracks such as Gasoline, Take My Breath and Sacrifice but slowly seems to fizzle as it continues on. Best Friends and I Heard You’re Married stood out as being particularly bad; the production team could have reduced listener fatigue and increased quality overall if they had left more songs on the cutting board. Otherwise, Dawn FM is what John Mayer's Sob Rock wishes it was, a generational homage done right. The perfection is in the imperfections; this really does feel like you’re listening to a synthpop radio station from the 80’s and it sounds absolutely great. With album turnarounds as fast as this, I’m already excited for the next one.
Overall Rating: 8.2/10
Favourite Song: Gasoline
REID
Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd, has come a long way since his smash single about cocaine. The Canadian has multiple hit records under his belt along with Victoria’s Secret Models and apparently Angelina Jolie. While she could still undoubtedly make me go in 60 seconds, I wonder if Dawn FM’s cover reflects how he feels dating a woman fifteen years his senior.
The Good - 80’s vibes, theme album and Jim Carrey. While I’ve never completely listened to an album of his, he seemingly picked up right where he left off with Blinding Lights. He’s boasting a very chic 80’s sound, although no song on Dawn FM is as good. He isn’t the first to do the radio station album and won’t be the last. My personal favourite is Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age and there’s a short list of others.
While Jim’s addition to the album is random af, he’s the man! It’s hard to take him seriously in any situation so his role in Dawn FM as a narrator to purgatory is no different. The effect on his voice seemed super familiar. Once I realized where my head was going with it, I laughed a lot. Check the clip from one of his underrated comedies.
The Questionable - Isn’t it a little odd when The Weeknd sings about sex and drugs in that angelic voice? You’d almost expect him to sing about engagements and family getaways but his lyrics are about not OD-ing and giving the D. Kinda like Celine Dion singing WAP.
The Bad - The whiny fuckboy. It’s pop music and his niche… but man 52 minutes of The Weeknd’s shit is far too much for me. This one got worse with multiple listens.
The Ugly – I Heard You’re Married. God awful.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Song: Sacrifice