The Weeknd - Kiss Land (Album Review)

In my opinion there are two artists that are absolutely dominating the R&B world right now. One is Frank Ocean and the other is The Weeknd (moniker of singer/songwriter Abel Tesfaye). The Weeknd's official full length debut Kiss Land was recently released, and let me tell you what, it gives Frank Ocean's Channel Orange a run for it's money on whose album should wear the crown of best R&B album of the last couple few years. The Weeknd had some lofty expectations on his shoulders coming off his trilogy of free mixtape/album releases (which saw a proper release last year). The expectations have been pretty high for The Weeknd.

Kiss Land expands the style and tone found throughout the trilogy of releases. I think probably one of the best things about the album could be viewed as a turn-off to some potential listeners though. The album's beat selection has mostly a low-key droning vibe with Tesfaye's singing over the vast majority of the beats (with the occasional guest thrown in). Now if you are a fan of The Weeknd the album is mostly business as usual. It expands on the sound and style without experimenting too much. The drawback to that is that some may view the album as a bit of a downer album or a rainy day album. It definitely sounds like it works best for late nights and feels a little like something you'd listen to by yourself.

I, on the other hand, have always appreciated the atmospheric quality of The Weeknd's music and I think it's part of the appeal of the music. It could also be viewed that he's run out of tricks with his sound. With little variation to sound and style I think this album will have reviewers picking apart what might be better about the trilogy over this album. Lyrically it might not be quite as strong or play as strong as the trilogy, but in terms of sonic quality and the album overall I think it's a nice follow-up. It doesn't make quite as big of a statement, but it continues the trend of really good, quality music.

I'm not a huge fan of the artwork. After some really interesting and appealing artwork for each part of the trilogy, Kiss Land's artwork feels really generic and poorly put together. It's basically just a standard promotional photo with a somewhat interesting font for the title of the album. I think there could have been some really interesting things to make this artwork really standout. Unfortunately that wasn't done on this release. I felt a similar way to Frank Ocean's less than stellar artwork for Channel Orange.

I also have to take a second and discuss Pharrell's contribution to the deluxe edition of the album. I've mostly found Pharrell to be out of place with most of the newer artists. His production style and many of his guest spots just never feel like they fit or that he gels well with the new up and comers of hip hop and R&B (see his more recent collaboration with Earl Sweatshirt - I thought it just overall didn't work as well as it should have). I finally have some praise for Pharrell because his remix of "Wanderlust" is nicely done. The song itself is one of the standouts on the album. I honestly have a hard time deciding which version I like better. I think I probably like the official album version slightly better, but this remix is good news for Pharrell fans because it actually is worth including and adds a little something to the deluxe edition of the album.

Overall it's nice to see some inspiring R&B music from acts like Frank Ocean and The Weeknd. The competition between who does it better is up in the air. I guess it's just nice to get some quality R&B music after quite a few years of really uninspired stuff from the majority of artists in the genre (or at least nothing that inspired me to listen to much of it). This is a good album. From start to finish it has nice flow and each song compliments the whole nicely. I definitely think it's worth checking out.