the whole thing i'm basing this on is that i was reading up on Thriller this past week. the single, not the album.

after the initial popularity of the album had faded, it was the release of the video for Thriller which thrust the album back into the spotlight.

it made me think about how some music, great or not, is really just at the mercy of time and chance. it made me think about how without "x" occuring, an album wouldn't be viewed as as an all time great. like Thriller was on it's way to just being another album before the conception and release of the Thriller video.

could the same not be happening for The Weeknd?

Just like the rest of his albums people will vibe with it eventually & it'll pop back up in the top streaming albums out of nowhere because people will realize it's good music

you could argue that even though there are better tracks on After Hours, Blinding Lights was needed to make that album what it was.

Yeah definitely tbh Weeknd doesn’t really make Accessible albums for the general public like that. He has those hit singles that get people going + the mixtape classics. An album like Dawn FM will not be appreciated by the same people that love Renaissance & HNVM

I’m an MJ Stan and I never knew this tbh I know the song jumped up the hype but I thought it was extremely loved off the bat of the release in late 82

It’s 5 am

thank you for your honesty. i also was not aware. it's crazy because when we were born/came to awareness it was already cemented/certified that MJ is the king of pop. we often ignore that in order to get there, there are some actual hurdles and realities which everyone must face.

i think everyone wants another MJ, but a lot of people don't realize that MJ also had to work his way up.

someone said about Nas Illmatic that "no one had made it before Nas". and while that is to an extent true, i think people ignore that there were inspirations for Illmatic. there were people trying to make Illmatic before Nas finally did and those same people undoubtedly served as inspiration for Illmatic. they created the context for which Illmatic would be considered a classic.

and of course we don't know who these people are, of course "history is written by the victor". but they're there in Illmatic somehow, somewhere, they're there.

the same goes for Dawn FM.

the context didn't exist. a lot of people rightly say that Dawn FM was too far a detachment from After Hours but there were many immediately recognizable narratives for the general public to latch onto to make After Hours the hit that it was.

what if this time around, with Dawn FM, The Weeknd/Abel/Abel Tesfaye was just trying to subvert the expectations in order to be first and let the narratives come along the way?

as much as Renaissance and Honestly, Nevermind are as far apart musically from Dawn FM as one can get, their house and old school roots hint towards a similar thing

I would agree but AH dropped in the last 5 years

Blinding Lights was the final nail in the coffin that created the context for After Hours to be viewed as great.

before Blinding Lights, After Hours was good but wasn't considered anything monumental.

Not trynna hear more 80s synth pop ngl

Couldnt imagine what there isnt to like about Dawn

I think Dawn is the last of it tbh

need some dream pop/ spacey sound for his next album

This ^^^
Also to add that Dawn FM was set up to fail due to his oversaturation all through 2021 and the hits from After Hours basically sabotaging the era's lead single.

i think the fact that CLB, which pushed at multiple musical angles, wasn't so well received kinda hints to the fact that the musical landscape had changed somehow.

i immensely respect Drake for releasing Honestly, Nevermind because it was clear that people didn't really care for whatever he was going for on CLB anymore. this is not saying that CLB wasn't good, just that it wasn't received so well.

i struggled somehow to get into Dawn FM because there wasn't a single song like 'Snowchild'. it felt like a very uncomfortable space because there was no familiar resting point. i.e. hip hop.

but as the days carry on more and more people are creating throwback albums. i hear even Frank Ocean is making a dance/house album.. house/4 to the floor/throwback... like The Weeknd. like Beyoncé, like Drake.

Great thread, but honestly I feel like the sound that Dawn FM is honing in on just isn’t what the general music listener is listening to for the most part, and that’s okay! Those who appreciate that sound and what Weeknd has been doing generally loved the album. Universally loved by critics as well.

And for what it’s worth, the recontextualizing of Dawn FM already started happening (on social media).

Like what?

Not disagreeing, just unfamiliar

I think it's fatigue

Blinding lights

Then save your tears

Then your eyes

Then take my breath

All very back to back

Plus the Swedish house mafia song, post Malone song and take my breath all sounded kinda samey (if you're just listening casually on the radio) so dawn fm kinda was more of the same

It's a really good album it just needed more time but I think it will be looked at more fondly as time goes on. Not my fave tho that's for sure

Save Your Tears didn’t hit #1 until a year after After Hours released

Blinding Lights hit #1 five months after it came out

Die For You has seen a massive boost in popularity in the past year (its #36 on Spotify right now and #45 on Apple Music)

one sneak

dawn.fm will gain a loyal following in the years to come tho. i think gasoline will randomly blow up like die for you is right now

And I only call you when it's half past five

Seeing him live again and witnessing the beauty that is less than zero live truly made me appreciate the album more and how much of an impact it will have moving forward

i don’t think Die For You blowing up rn is random

it’s because it’s on his setlist