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You’ll be hard pressed to find an artist with a more distinct visual language than Abel Tesfaye’s The Weeknd.
From his enigmatic origins as an underground mixtape master to his Grammy-hoarding rise to the top of the charts, Abel’s carefully curated image is as impressive as his long-run of confessional club bangers.
Whether he’s stumbling through Las Vegas with a busted-up blood nose and 80s stache, or paying homage to Tokyo’s seedy underbelly, The Weeknd is simultaneously conceiving and killing-off some of the most memorable characters in contemporary R&B.
Yes, The Weeknd may have single-handedly saved 2020. Let’s take a look at how he created an entirely unique visual experience.
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Images with thanks to Getty Images
Kiss Land (2013)
A self-described ‘horror movie’, (Abel references The Fly and Alien as inspiration) The Weeknd’s debut album Kiss Land hit speakers around the globe in 2013.
Orbiting a navel-gazing ennui and the ironic loneliness erupting from his newfound fame, Kiss Land initiated Abel’s eccentric visual narrative.
In the music video for his title track, Abel conceived a world of Japanese retro-futurism and voyeuristic softcore that drove home his dolorous beats and emotionally-despondent lyrics. A kind of bleary-eyed homage to horror and late night Tokyo, The Weeknd’s live performances also revealed his penchant for tight jeans, high cut combat boots, and gravity-defying dreads.
Yes, in Kiss Land the fledgling star was already utilising his wardrobe as an auxiliary to his sonic storylines.
Starboy (2016)
For The Weeknd’s third album, Abel built an entire LP empowering its lead character: ‘Starboy’. Signposting his ambivalent feelings towards fame, the album examines Abel’s fraught journey from Canadian enigma to household name.
Infused with soul and R&B, Starboy allowed The Weeknd to ramp things up with two interstellar Daft Punk collaborations and egomaniacal tracks that take cues from the ‘braggadocio’ of Wu-Tang and 50 Cent.
By now a global hitmaker, The Weeknd really started experimenting with his love of cinema, the music video for the title track setting a lavish scene bookmarked by a neck-breaking gold cross and suffocating murder scene.
Starboy also signaled an ever-evolving musical and stylistic shift for Abel, the meteoric talent taking to Instagram to ring the death knell for his previous character, writing ‘r.i.p @abelxo’.
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My Dear Melancholy (2018)
Landing in 2018, My Dear Melancholy revisits the gothic-electro landscape that’s more symptomatic of Abel’s bareroots mixtape trilogy. Loaded with gauzy allusions to his sexual history and tripped-out reveries, the EP explores the internal dualities and existential traumas arising from Abel’s climb to the top.
Vacillating between who he once was and who he is now, My Dear Melancholy blasts big-money tracks with plenty of star-studded cameos alongside more raw, fly-on-the-wall songs reminiscent of earlier work.
Again, My Dear Melancholy showcases Abel’s amorphous character – one that’s never stagnant, as the artist constantly moves at supersonic speeds into the future.
After Hours (2020)
Few albums in history have created a more enduring visual language than The Weeknd’s After Hours. Stumbling through the streets of Las Vegas bloodied and bruised, Abel’s bleeding-heart masterpiece is loaded with coagulating self-loathing and confessional club hits that altogether culminated in one of his best albums to date.
Just as concerned with creating a distinct visual identity as he was a successful LP, Abel teased the Internet with an 80s mustache before revealing the jaw-dropping head-to-toe outfit: A broad-shouldered scarlet velvet blazer, busted-up and bandaged nose, huge rose-tinted shades, and the lightning rod: Leather biker gloves.
A visual feast compiled with references to cinematic classics like Chinatown, Dressed to Kill and The Mask, After Hours is a stylistic triumph in its own right.
Keen to shed your own skin in search of a new identity?
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