Almost two years after his prior work, The Weeknd returns with Dawn FM, an album that is possibly his most stylistically comprehensive and realised till date, albeit suffering from few pacing issues.
Emulating the aesthetic and feel of a radio broadcast, Dawn FM sees The Weeknd continue to experiment with the synth and disco music styles of the eighties he established in his previous album After Hours in 2020, whilst continuing to touch upon the dark lyrical subject matter listeners have come to expect from the singer.
A thematic antithesis to After Hours, Dawn FM sees The Weeknd exploring the fallout of a romantic relationship and the arduous task of moving on that inevitably follows.
However, The Weeknd fails to encapsulate said themes and messages in a fluid manner, thereby having a few songs that break the flow and pace established by the album.
Nonetheless, the artist employs certain creative flourishes, in collaboration with fellow musicians such as Swedish House Mafia, Oneohtrix Point Never and Calvin Harris, and vocal cameos in the form of interludes by veteran singer Quincy Jones and actor Jim Carrey as a radio jockey lend more flair to the musical and stylistic quality of the album as a whole.
Seamlessly transitioning from one song to the other, Dawn FM definitely added to my ever growing list of favorites from The Weeknd, with tracks such as “Sacrifice“, “Out of Time“, “Is There Someone Else?/Starry Eyes” and “Less Than Zero” particularly being standouts from the album. Moreover, Carrey’s talents are further expanded and utilised as he delivers a thought provoking coda (Phantom Regret) to culminate the album.
Although faulty in some aspects, Dawn FM plays to The Weeknd’s strengths, cementing him as a creative musical visionary of the modern age.
Texts of A Pop Culture Buff 