Many would’ve not heard of Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd’s debut effort, ‘Kiss Land’ that plunked badly on its release in 2013. Taking a point to the mistakes on it, Tesfaye brings about an album that you would enjoy.

This Pop / R & B filled album sees Tesfaye bringing many of his mates to join him on this record hoping the collaboration might make a bit of a difference. It does to a certain extent.

Losers features UK singer – songwriter and producer Labyrinth, on a catchy melody. You have some squishy drums, handclaps and a bit of jazzy influence thrown in. On Tell Your Friends, Tesfaye says that he's still the same old guy in the face of all the fame, though some things have changed, we hope so musically. When Tesfaye sings “My cousin said I made it big and it's unusual/ She tried to take a selfie at my Grandma's funeral," we didn’t expect him to go overboard like this. The Hills, with its catchy chorus and eerie screams is a favorite here. Tesfaye talks to his lover on what he has done in the evening before he met her.

Skipping Acquainted a fairly average track which has The Hills sample, we go for a track Tesfaye performed at the VMAs… Can't Feel My Face which incidentally was his first number one hit. Co-written by Max Martin, (and if you didn’t know, Tesfaye has written the lyrics to all his songs here), he plays wicked and talks about his favorite things he enjoys in life. The beat is highly addictive, danceable funk bass, with vocals only the Canadian singer can produce. Mind you this song has a flippy edge to the style of Michael Jackson songs. The heady and very infectious In the Night has a disco feel to it and draws you to the dancefloor.

Shameless is partly an acoustic piece, opening into a brilliant electric guitar solo midway. It’s Tesfaye’s moment on instrumentation. Earned It, the theme song for 50 Shades of Grey which put Tesfaye on a pedestal for sometime before he hit big with this album, sees the 25 year old on a slow mix, nothing that would get him any brownie points even though the lyrics are a bit nasty.

Ed Sheeran who comes in on Dark Times fails to up the ante for Tesfaye, while the Lana Del Rey duet on the soul searching Prisoner, adds nothing much except her vocals to a pretty low grade drum heavy piece.
After a little bit more than an hour of having Tesfaye or shall we say The Weeknd spinning, the title fits perfectly for an album of his stature. Foul mouthed at times, enjoying the Weeknd we’d say would need a second audition as you have to really have to get into his bad-guy persona to know what his mind speaks. For newcomers who have loved his singles, here’s more to dwell on and chill out, from R & B’s master contemporary singer and songwriter. Catchy hooks, lascivious lyrics and strong vocals, that’s The Weeknd packaged for you.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira