My Dear Melancholy, – The Weeknd

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. My Dear Melancholy is The Weeknd’s first EP and explores deep into his relationships with his past girlfriends. Tesfaye seems to pivot back to the dark, downtempo R&B that first launched his career. Starting away from the upbeat Synth-pop production of his latest hits, he returns to some of the sonic signatures from the ‘Trilogy’ era like hazy synths and dramatic sweeping vocal lines doused in reverb. 

Here’s an in-depth look into the EP- 

• Call Out My Name- Sampling his Oscar-nominated “Earned It” over a slow piano-driven beat from producer Frank Dukes, Abel details his struggles to let go of a past relationship. Abel explains that, although he is aware that his last lover didn’t put as much effort into the relationship as he did, he still wishes deep down that she would need him as much as he still needs her. If this Xo gang has a sad boy anthem, it’s this.

•Try Me- With The Weeknd’s understudy Marz contributing their signature rattling trap sound to the song ‘Try Me’ features Abel’s trademark somber and haunting tones as he attempts to convince a previous lover to leave her current partner for him.

• Wasted Times- with ‘Skrillex’ hopping on the beat, this is a classic electro-pop song with Abel’s voice being with the beat and giving it a nice reverb. In this song, The Weeknd can be seen putting his past relationships into perspective. My favorite song on this EP. 

• I Was Never There- the starting of the song is similar to The Weeknd’s song ‘Wicked Games’. Gesaffelstein is one of the coolest producers working in the industry right now. The beat made by him is heavy on synths and blends well The Weeknd’s voice. 

• Hurt You- another feature by Gesaffelstein, this song felt quite similar to ‘I Feel it Coming’ from Starboy. The Weeknd is seen reminiscing about his break up and is unable to deal with it healthily, resorting to drugs, alcohol, and casual sex to numb the pain. While he recognizes that this is self-destructive, he pins the blame on the other party.

• Privilege- Privilege” is the outro track of this EP, where Abel seemingly addresses his past relationship. The Weeknd culminates this project saying that he’s going to resort to his old way now. The production on this one is simple and minimalistic with a simple bass line running throughout. 

This mini-album represents a welcome return to the spark and the infectious mood that made the best Weeknd songs feel like stolen diary pages, and it succeeds without having an extensive runtime. The best thing about this project is its production with more than a dozen producers being used and Abel’s voice being perfectly modulated for the sad theme of the project. Check this out before ‘After Hours’ to prepare yourself for what’s in store.