(Singing). That's terrifying and I love it. Today's video is sponsored by Honey. Hi,
and welcome back to me and talking about whatever I want. Today, I want to talk
about After Hours by The Weekend. But first, of course, I'd like to do my comment shout out.
This comment shout out actually goes out to all of you who were asking where I've been. I mean,
I went from uploading almost every single day in February to uploading three videos this month.
I have a big announcement coming up on April 1st, where I'm going to talk about some personal stuff
and I'm going to address the fact that I've been gone for a lot. So for the record, I'm not back,
don't get too excited, but I will be back on April 1st. I realize the more I keep saying that,
the more it just sounds like an April fool's joke. Let's just travel back in time to when my hair was
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Link in the description as well at joinhoney.com/Dangelo and thank you to Honey for
this sponsorship because this video is definitely going to get copyright claimed. Well, that was
quite nice, wasn't it? Now for those of you who don't know who The Weekend is,
but you still clicked into this video because you love me, don't worry. I got you. Long story short,
The Weekend is this guy named Abel Tesfaye. He was stringing fans along the bit for the
release of his album After Hours, which came out a couple of weeks ago. Well, thankfully for him,
the album was not even close to bad. It was so amazing. And thankfully for us,
we got some of the best songs of 2020 so far. Incredible. There's these big synth sounds,
but they're mixing with his angelic vocals, listen to this.
Basically I knew from the beginning that I was in for an auditory treat. There's an effect on
his voice but in my opinion, it sounded really good and it matched the style of the music. But
let me just say, when the beat dropped in this song, I died. (Singing). Then the beat dropped
again harder. Anyway, It was one of the best songs on the album, which is really weird for track one.
It was a good intro. It set up the soundscapes we're going to be hearing and it set up the
theme of this album, which, it gets pretty thematic. All right, so the next song is Too
Late. The vocal effects persisted into the song, which typically I get very on the fence about,
but honestly it sounds cool. It's weird and interesting, it's not just auto tuned,
there's pitch shifting and all this stuff layered on. It creates a very druggie atmosphere, which
spoiler alert, that's going to come up later. As for the instrumental, it's nice. It wasn't
spectacular, whatever. It's very The Weekend. In fact there's some sounds on here that are
actually from previous albums. There's this squeak sound right here. I actually recognize
that sound myself. It's actually from his 2018 EP, My Dear Melancholy on the song I Was Never There.
But aside from the nice music, the lyrics are really starting to creep up on you on this song,
a story is beginning to unfold. Basically, he's asking for forgiveness for all of the terrible,
terrible things that he's done to the poor woman who is the subject of this
album. It's interesting to hear The Weekend saying sorry for once,
given as he's typically pretty heartless, it's the name of one of his songs. (Singing). All right,
so on the track, Hardest To Love, we have Abel channeling his inner '80s balladeer.
Vocals are amazing and they're very over the top, even the lyrics are over the top,
the production is very glimmering and large. Now I do have to say the percussion choice was weird,
it's literally drum and bass. (Singing). But honestly, it doesn't
sound bad. And lyrically, The Weekend is still apologizing. He's acknowledging that he's done
something wrong. "I can't believe you want me after all the heartbreaks, after all the things
I've done." Honestly, me neither, because wait until you find out some of the things he's done.
He goes into detail, but hey, at least he's a changed man, for now. All right, track four,
Scared To Love. It's still very '80s actually. Thematically, it's similar to the previous song,
but in a good way, I could literally hear this song playing at someone's prom.
And the vocals are still incredible. I feel like if I just keep saying that on every song it's
going to get redundant, but the man can sing, okay? I like how he's not just repeating, I'm
sorry over and over, he elaborates and expounds upon it. So in this song he's specifically hoping
that his lover can find healing from all of the horrible things that he did. (Singing).
All right, track five, Snow Child. So in this song, he's reminiscing on how his life was before
he skyrocketed to fame. His delivery in this song is like something you would hear from a Drake
song, but a good Drake song, not a bad Drake song. There's also some very clever play on this song,
which is interesting to hear from The Weekend. Not typically something I'd associate with him.
"Stack a couple hymns like I was shady." Get it? Because ... nevermind. It was cooler when he said
it. The music on this track is very stripped back. It's literally nothing to write home about. But it
fits because this is a much more lyrical focused song, so it's easier to hear him. And then halfway
through the song, he just stops talking about his upbringing and starts flexing where he is.
(Singing). I guess you could say he earned it. It's the name of one of his songs, I'm sorry.
All right, so track six, Escape From LA. Uh-oh, it turns out the girl that he was so heartbroken
over, she wasn't a very good person. It turns out that girl cheated on him and then tried to
make a bunch of excuses, which he then mocked. He actually mocks her while singing. She's like, "I
just wanted your attention." He's like, "You just want my attention." But he sings it like that.
(Singing). Well, I've never heard anyone do that before while singing, I was impressed. Anyway,
needless to say, The Weekend's getting a bit sour towards this girl now. The song's called Escape
From LA because he proceeds to blame the whole situation on being in LA in the first place, which
I have heard from many people is a pretty awful place to be, especially if you're looking for real
people. Basically Escape From LA by the weekend is the theme song of, I hate it here. So our man Abel
doesn't just sit around and twiddle his thumbs when he learns about his partner's infidelity.
No, no, no. He does what any self respecting adult does in that situation. Cheats back with
somebody else. You thought he was going to the studio to record his hit album after hours. Well,
he was because it did come out, but that's not all he was going to the studio for,
he was also having studio hookups. (Singing). I mean, I'm sure you can see where this is going,
so that's the first arc of the album. So recap. The Weekend's apologizing to this girl,
he cares a lot about her. He's even ready to hunker down a bit and live a life with her,
maybe. In any regard he realizes that he's wrong and he's ready to ... Oh no,
she cheated. Okay well, I hate women all of a sudden. Track seven is literally just him giving
up on women basically. (Singing). Also, he's on drugs now. (Singing). What I like about this song,
I like how I'm like, "Oh, this song is about how women are nothing." And then I'm like,
"What I like about this song." What I like about the song is a beat,
not the lyrics because the beat actually reflects the shift in tone. It goes the hardest that it has
on the album so far, courtesy of Metro Boomin. (Singing). And sadly, this song is an unraveling
of all the progress that The Weekend tried to build up in the first few songs. Lyrics like,
"I'm back to my ways because I'm heartless. Trying to be a better man, but I'm heartless." You get
the vibe that he's not necessarily heartless, he just finds it easier to act that way. I mean,
if it's not clear by now, The Weekend's not a real person, right? I mean, yes, Abel Tesfaye the man
exists and made this album, but he's obviously incorporating elements into the song that didn't
necessarily happen. So I'm not really scared for The Weekend himself, I'm pretty sure he's
fine and just laughing and counting his money. But I'm scared for The Weekend on this album
because we're only halfway through and he's exhibiting some very unsavory behavior. I will
say though, my first negative on this entire album so far is a nitpick. I am really upset
at him for not including the vocal effect on this part of the bridge right here. (Singing).
See, that was cool and all, but in the music video, it actually goes like this. (Singing).
That's terrifying and I love it and if they had done this on the album,
I would have been so taken aback that I would have just given it an A+ without listening to the rest
of the songs. All right, track eight Faith. The beginning half of the song is basically just like,
"Oh, I'm at a drug party, but also I'm sad." Literally so many of this man's songs could
be described by that. He references cocaine, molly and weed in the first
three lines of the song. And of course Xanax follows closely behind. So I was just like,
"Oh yeah, whatever, sad drugs party anthem." But then the song gets really dark. (Singing).
So now instead of classic self destructive Abel behavior, he wants to drag her into it as some
sort of punishment. He then overdoses and winds up going to the hospital in the album. When I
talk about it, it sounds like a movie. In fact, it literally sounds like a movie. There's ambulance
noises and everything. Those sirens clashing with the synths is the most cinematic thing
I've heard on an album this year and I love it, even though this is terrible. I'm not endorsing
anything that's happening on this album, I just enjoy watching it from a distance. Track nine,
Blinding Lights. This song has a very, very '80s beat. The '80s beats are back.
Sonically it's cool, lyrically though, oh no, oh no. He comes back. He goes back to girl. Yes.
Yes. So if we're on the same page here, he's like, "Oh, Hey babe, sorry. I was exhibiting
extremely toxic behavior, but I changed." And then he's like, "Oh wait, you were cheating.
I'm just going to go be literally 10 times as worse and then get more toxic." And now in this
song he's like, "Actually, I also still need you." It has lyrics like, "I can't sleep until I feel
your touch. I can't see clearly when you're gone, I'll never let you go this time." Bro,
stop it. Get some help. This album is like an endless cycle and it's never going to end
until one of them just dies, I guess. Speaking of which, well, we're not to that song yet. I mean,
as you can tell, I'm much more caught up in the story than I am in the music, which is not a bad
thing. I think that's incredible. The music is just being used as a vehicle for the storytelling
in this album. And there's been nine trucks so far and I haven't dislike any of them. All right,
so track 10, In Your Eyes. So once he gets back, because can't live without you babe, he then
realizes something that he never saw before. It turns out he's the problem. And I know you
might be thinking, "But didn't he just say he was the problem on another song?" Yeah, well maybe
he forgot because of the methamphetamines and the cocaine and the molly and the weed all at the same
time, you know what I mean? Musically, the song is very fun and there's a cool sax solo at the end,
which I'm always down for. It sounds like a hit from the radio from the '80s. But
the song has no samples that I saw, so it's pretty incredible. All right, so track 11,
we're nearing the end of this rollercoaster. This song is called, Save Your Tears. Honestly,
this song also sounds like it was from the '80s. Clearly this section is the '80s section. I will
be completely honest, I'm not a huge fan of the '80s sound. I really preferred the synths from
some of the earlier tracks, minus the '80s boom-pah, boom-pah, you know what I mean?
And to hear three songs in a row that all had that '80s format to me personally,
by the time we got to the third one, I was like, "Could you just go back to the cinematic stuff?"
(Singing). All right, track 12, Repeat After Me (Interlude). Yikes. He's literally brainwashing
her. I'm not exaggerating. "Repeat after me, you don't love him. If you're thinking
about me," he literally just keeps saying that over and over, that's the interlude. (Singing).
This is a new low for The Weekend in terms of toxic behavior and I'm all about it. This
album slaps, bro. Nah, it's still one of the darkest songs I've ever heard though. The music
is good. It's very fun and silky thanks to a Tame Impala and Oneohtrix Point Never. Oneohtrix Point
Never being the uncut gems guy. And the music is psychedelic, which adds to the whole brainwashing
aspect of, "Repeat after me, you don't love him, you don't love him, you're thinking of me,
repeat after me." So that's terrifying. All right, only two songs left. So number 13 is
the title track After Hours. The beat is super cool. It interpellates Opr by Gesaffelstein. I
have no idea if I said either of those things right. But I also don't care. (Singing).
It's very fitting for a title track. It's just a good song and lyrically, he finally merges
both worlds. See, now we've got conflict. On the one hand he's singing, "Yeah, no. Yeah,
I'm pretty awful, aren't I?" But on the other hand, he's like, "I also have no intention of
stopping and I can also see that's hurting you." End of song. So how's it going to end? We've gone
on this rocky journey, we've explored every ounce of this man's relationship, what happens
next? I think he did something bad to himself. I don't know what he did specifically, but this
song is definitely about he did something. I mean, it's literally called Until I Bleed Out.
And from the lyrics you do get the impression that he's just lying in a pool of blood singing
his final words. But at the same time, it's also very obvious that part of the song is symbolic.
Like he says, "I want to cut you out of my dreams until I'm bleeding out." So that's obviously
not literal, but then again, other parts of the song sound extremely literal. So in conclusion,
he pulled an inception on us. That's it, it's an open-ending. We don't know what happened. Did
he jump off a building? Is that why he's bleeding out? Did he get stabbed? Is he just waxing poetic
and there's no blood involved? But how could you say there's no blood involved when there's blood
all over him on the album cover? What did The Weekend do in Bleeding Out? The world may never
know until he decides to release a new album. As I've said multiple times, the production on
this album is incredible. Without fail, all 14 songs are technological masterpieces from some
of the brightest minds in music production today. His vocals were consistently really good. There's
a lot of effects applied to his vocals and that might be jarring to you just as it has been to
me in the past. But in this case, I think you might find like I did, that the effects really
added to the very off and strange atmosphere that he was trying to create on After Hours.
The storytelling was just simply the best I've heard on an album in years. I'm very strongly
inclined to say this is the best storytelling I've heard on an album in my entire life, but I'd have
to think a bit harder before I say that. After all, Gord Downie has plenty of albums, but still,
without a doubt, the storytelling was phenomenal. It wasn't just a concept, like, "Oh, there's blood
on my nose." No, this man used all 14 songs to tell one story. After Hours by The Weekend is an
incredible character study of a very bad man who's very sad and has a lot of money and even more bad
habits. And ultimately it just ended in heartbreak and maybe another hospital trip. I mean,
he already went to the hospital halfway through the album as well. So anyway, you get an A-. It's
not an A+ just because, like I said, I was not a fan of that three track section, I think it
was tracks 9 through 11. So yeah, I didn't give it an A+ but I mean, come on in an A- is the highest
grade I've ever given on this channel so far. And ultimately my grades are literally only based
on how much I personally enjoyed the album. So even if it was bad and I still liked it
I'd give it an A-, but no, it's phenomenal. Please go listen to it. But yeah, that was
my little review/breakdown/storytelling dive into After Hours by The Weekend. Hopefully you
got some enjoyment out of watching it. And even if you didn't, I got immense enjoyment out of ranting
about synths and storytelling for however many minutes, far too long, so ultimately who cares?