On its uninspired follow-up, Starboy, he seems to lose sight of that vision almost entirelyĪbel Tesfaye has been slowly losing his edge for years, and you could call ‘Starboy’ his first disappointment With Beauty Behind the Madness, Abel Tesfaye achieved pop stardom without compromising his vision. Instead of moving forward on Starboy, he ends up sounding like one of them The Weeknd has inspired a lot of imitators. Starboy has something for each individual, this is without a doubt, but it has nothing for everybody as a collective, a balance he managed on his first three releasesĪnother collection of songs with bad lyrics and good beats, and I guess that’s what The Weeknd is good for these daysĪbel Tesfaye has the pop structures down, but doesn't deliver as many idiosyncrasies as he used to It may showcase a cleaner sound, both in lyrical content and production, but its value for money at eighteen tracks comes at the cost of coherence The perfect major label project is still in reach - this good but not great pop effort proves it
‘Starboy’ manages to deliver a unique and fresh sound mixed with cutting and clever lyrics that The Weeknd is now famous for Starboy is one of the most confident releases of the year, one bold enough to reveal the cracks in The Weeknd’s façade for the sake of resonant art Tesfaye’s newest is packed with loads of potential singles and if he continues to plays the cards right, he’ll become the “it” artist of the 2010s The album showcases Abel Tesfaye’s sweet vocals with taut hooks and an attractive R&B groove While Starboy may not be a giant creative risk stretching away and beyond what we've come to expect from The Weeknd, it's a continuation of Abel's edgy salacious narrative and a complete assassination of pop's thematic normalcy Sort by ADM rating Sort by most recent review