I didn’t listen to music back then but I remember seeing on here someone saying kiss land was a flop. I thought he didn’t become a star till like 2015?

he didn't become a starboy until 2015

Also was the drake stimulus a thing back then?

he was popular with people who were super into hip hop/r and b but not white suburban moms yet

If the casual audience wasn’t into him why was it considered a flop?

maybe 1/20th the size

cause The Weeknd thought Pretty, Wanderlust or Belong to The World would do well on radio/pop charts

old fans wanted Trilogy back

that makes sense, back then it would’ve needed radio play to get big right?

It was a rarity to hear any Weeknd song back then

yes but he also just wasn't huge

he had a large die hard fanbase that was into alternative music and rap / r&b but he had little pop music or mainstream fans

he'd do bigger numbers on tours than on records which I think showed he had a hard-core internet following

like he sold out the Hollywood Bowl without a single hit song

it was but Live For was not received well and did not get a lot of airplay.

I think he gave a lot of his best songs away for Take Care and after the 3 GOAT mixtapes Kissland wasn't really popular.

For reference about 8 months or so before Kissland came out I saw The Weeknd at my uni for $20

He didn't blow up until the 50 shades of grey movie and he made Earned It

Kinda crazy he did crazy tour numbers like that without hits

U saw him at ur uni before kissland that’s crazy did a lot of people go

He was still pretty mysterious but known
Think pre die lit Carti

Oh yeah I remember pre die lit Carti, so cult fan base pretty much.

Yep me included

Wasn't full if I recall The Arkells sold out our uni's club and The Weeknd didn't.

I went to see him in Toronto and it was $35

Trust me he was popular with his fanbase but he wasn't big where he's charging $200 at the Raptors arena for nosebleeds face value

Vladtv

Mf...

i mean, his biggest hit was wicked games and was mostly known for his features in take care in that time.

i would say he was like a c/d tier artist back then in terms of fame

right now he is an S-tier artist in terms of fame

How big was The Weeknd when he dropped kissland?

Kiss Land is still so misunderstood. Truly his best project imo.

In ‘12 I vividly remember him performing at a dive bar in my city where tickets were $25 and it was standing room only

Club had to be able to fill up maybe 250 people max and I recall it didn’t sell out until maybe the night of the concert

Yes