Imagine cruising down South Congress. You decide to listen to the radio, but what station would you choose? Maybe 98.9 KUTX or 93.3 KGSR, also known as the Austin City Limits Radio. Or you could check out a new station for your listening pleasure. Although it’s only accessible through internet streaming or a physical disc, it follows the radio models of the aforementioned examples: 103.5 Dawn FM, the newest album by The Weeknd.
Dawn FM is the highly anticipated fifth studio album by the legendary R&B artist. The Weeknd released the album in January 2022, almost two years after his previous album, After Hours.
Before Dawn FM, After Hours was not only an album but an era, to say the least,the critically acclaimed album encompassed several Billboard record-breaking singles, a Super Bowl Performance and storytelling like The Weeknd fans haven’t seen before. As a musical masterpiece, After Hours was a dark, moody project reflecting on the pain and trauma of the Weeknd’s personal life and music career. After learning from his past, many fans wondered what was in store for his future.
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Coming off the high of After Hours, The Weeknd teased and alluded to his next project, “The Dawn”, for months. The project was said to encompass the next chronological moment in the story following After Hours.
Before the album’s debut, the first single releasedwas “Take My Breath”, a retro, almost disco sounding track with upbeat, groovy synths. The Weeknd is no stranger to synths which he often used in After Hours and Starboy, a previous project, but “Take My Breath” took on a new sound and feel from his previous work
Upon the album’s release, it was revealed the project included features from legendary artists, including Tyler The Creator, Lil Wayne and Jim Carrey. Carrey would become an integral part of the project as he narrated transitions between tracks and had an interlude at the end of the album “Phantom Regret by Jim.”
Dawn FM is a concept album modeled after a fictional radio station called 103.5 Dawn FM. The album’s theme is the transition from death to the afterlife, specifically, being in purgatory. The album includes many synths for a retro 80s feel and groovy beats for a 70s disco sound.
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Lyrically, a lot of his material references his past life and music. In songs like “Here We Go… Again”, the lyrics “We still celebrating SuperBowl” refer to a major life experience of having performed at the Super Bowl. And in songs like, “Don’t Break my Heart,” the lyric “I think that you would die for me” is a reference to his song “Die For You” on his album Starboy.
Dawn FM reflects a step in The Weeknd’s journey of growth and self-healing. Every song is a reflection of where he’s been in life. He celebrates his successes and learns from the pain of his past. The retro sound of the album contributes to this idea of reflecting on the past. The album holds a fun, upbeat radio program that contains heartfelt lyrics full of pain and loss; it’s similar to how many celebrities have gone through heartbreak and trauma but puts on a content facade for his audience. This is one of his more ambitious albums, creatively speaking, and highlights his growth beyond the troubled young kid with a penchant for drugs, parties, and everything in between.
Knowing where The Weeknd has come from and seeing where he’s at now, many fans have found themselves fallen into one of two camps: those who like The Weeknd’s evolution as an artist and those who don’t, generally favoring The Weeknd’s older style.
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Personally, I would consider myself part of the former. At first, listen, this album confused me because it was so different from any of his other projects, but it really grew on me after listening to it and dissecting it.. I don’t think I would go as far as to say that it’s my favorite album, but it’s something I return to and will keep listening to for a while. The songs on Dawn FM are catchy, moody, and heartfelt: exactly what you would want from The Weeknd.
For Weeknd fans that find themself in the latter camp, the general consensus is that this album has none of the traits that drew them to The Weeknd in the first place. I can understand this disappointment, but I think he deserves more credit. The Weeknd may be making music that sounds different and has different lyrical content, but it still has that same raw emotional appeal that The Trilogy had. Unfortunately, fans in this camp only want him to make the same dark music of the toxic Weeknd in the Trilogy, but that person doesn’t exist anymore. And even if he did and did a project that was theTrilogy adjacent, I believe these fans would still find a way to compare it to the Trilogy and end up disappointed because it wasn’t the same.
The Trilogy will always be there, but an artist like the Weeknd has too much talent and creativity to waste in appeasing critics who only want reminiscent music. I think Dawn FM is his way of using his talent and creativity to evolve like an artist should. Otherwise, we have an artist like Drake who makes good music but hasn’t evolved, so his latest projects hardly sound new or memorable.
Perhaps Dawn FM is ahead of its time, and as time passes, more people will catch on to how talented and visionary it is. But, for the time being, it’s clear The Weeknd has been working extremely hard these past few years and has delivered outstanding art. As a fan, I can only hope he takes the time for some well-deserved rest, and after that, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
