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The Weeknd's long-awaited, highly anticipated album, Beauty Behind the Madness, is here. Riding high into its first week thanks to the chart-topping success of "Can't Feel My Face," expectations are sky-high for the Toronto native. With no features outside of Lana Del Rey and Ed Sheeran and production from Kanye West, Abel gives fans 14 new tracks to sit with. Stream the project via Spotify below:

The Weeknd was recently profiled by The New York Times Magazine’s Jon Caramanica and spoke on being an influential star to kids just like Michael Jackson was an influence to him. “These kids, you know, they don’t have a Michael Jackson,” said Abel. “They don’t have a Prince. They don’t have a Whitney. Who else is there? Who can really do it at this point?”

The Weeknd experimented sonically with BBTM and gives fans a more structured sound. "I felt I had to change who I was,” he told The Times. On his earlier work, the artist’s producers  ”would always try to structure it, make it more into a song, and I was always a punk: ‘I hate major chords. I hate structure. I want this song to be eight minutes long.’ It would kill them. My head-space now is, I love choruses. A chorus is not easy.”

  

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