1.
The Weeknd
–
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known professionally as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and record producer. In late 2010, Tesfaye anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube under the name The Weeknd and he released three nine-track mixtapes throughout 2011, House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, which were critically acclaimed. In 2012, he released a compilation album Trilogy, thirty tracks consisting of the remastered mixtapes and it was released under Republic Records and his own label XO. In 2013, he released his studio album Kiss Land. The songs have held the top three spots on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, making him the first artist in history to achieve this. The Weeknd has won two Grammy Awards and nine Juno Awards, in September 2016, the release of the third album Starboy was announced along with the release of the title track single Starboy, which subsequently reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born on 16 February 1990, in Scarborough, Ontario and he is the only child of Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye, who were Ethiopian migrants to Canada in the 1980s. He was raised in Scarborough, a neighborhood within the city. During his youth, his mother would work several jobs to support the family, often as a nurse and caterer, while also attending night school. His father later abandoned the family, prompting his grandmother to take care for him and his paternal cousin Issam Nazar. This allowed him to become fluent in Amharic, with the Semitic language acting as his first language and she would also take him to services at an Ethiopian Orthodox church. He started smoking marijuana at age 11, and later moved on to hard drugs, describing his teenage years as KIDS without the AIDS, he would shoplift from the local supermarket with his cousin Issam, and began using MDMA, Xanax, cocaine, psilocybin and ketamine. He attended West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, the spelling was modified to avoid trademark issues with the Canadian band The Weekend. Tesfaye met producer Jeremy Rose, who had an idea for a dark R&B musical project called The Weeknd. After trying to pitch the idea to musician Curtis Santiago, Rose played one of his instrumentals for Tesfaye, who freestyled over it, and they began working on an album. He produced three songs – What You Need, Loft Music, and The Morning – and others that Tesfaye rapped on, Rose let Tesfaye keep the tracks he had produced under the condition that he would ultimately be credited for them. However, in December 2010, Tesfaye uploaded What You Need, Loft Music and The Morning to YouTube under the name The Weeknd, though his identity was initially unknown. The songs drew attention online through word of mouth, including a blog featuring the songs posted by rapper Drake and they subsequently received coverage from outlets such as Pitchfork Media and The New York Times
2.
Beauty Behind the Madness
–
Beauty Behind the Madness is the second studio album by Canadian singer The Weeknd. It was released on August 28,2015, by XO, the album was supported by five singles, Often, The Hills, Cant Feel My Face, In the Night and Acquainted. The Hills and Cant Feel My Face both reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Beauty Behind the Madness also includes the Academy Award-nominated song Earned It, which was released as a single from the soundtrack to Fifty Shades of Grey. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, it became the tenth best-selling album of 2015, to date, the album has sold over two million units in the United States. On September 10,2013, The Weeknd released his debut album Kiss Land and it was promoted by three singles, Kiss Land, Belong to the World, Live For featuring Drake, and The Weeknds The Fall tour beginning during September 2013. Kiss Land received generally positive reviews from critics, Kiss Land debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 96,000 copies, just two thousand copies short of Keith Urbans Fuse, which took the number one spot on the week. In 2013, in an interview with MTV, following the release of his album, The Weeknd spoke of his compilation album Trilogy, as the first chapter of his life. On June 26,2014, The Weeknd announced that he would be headlining the King of the Fall tour, schoolboy Q and Jhené Aiko were confirmed as support acts. The announcement came on the day after The Weeknd released his new song Often on SoundCloud, on December 23,2014, Earned It was released as a single from the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades of Grey. The song peaked at three on the Billboard Hot 100. On July 5,2015, Ed Sheeran revealed on Beats 1 that he had worked with The Weeknd on his forthcoming album, Sheeran also said that Kanye West would feature in this collaboration on the album. On July 9,2015, The Weeknd announced that his studio album would be titled Beauty Behind the Madness. The first single, Often was released on July 31,2014, the song peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 69 on the Canadian Hot 100. The albums second single, The Hills was released on May 27,2015, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20 for the chart dated on June 13,2015, it was the weeks highest debut. On the following week, the single declined by one position, as of January 2016, The Hills has sold 2,662,000 copies in the US. The albums lead single, Cant Feel My Face was released on June 8,2015, the song debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100. It produced first-week digital sales of 93,000 units and garnered additionally 4.2 million US streams and 38 million airplay audiences. In its third week on the chart, the reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100, making it his third top 10 hit
3.
Contemporary R&B
–
Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
4.
Republic Records
–
Republic Records is an American record company that operates as a division of Universal Music Group. The label was endowed by Monte Lipman and Avery Lipman in 1995, the labels main offices are located in New York City, New York, United States, other offices of the record label are located at the Interscope Center in Santa Monica, California, U. S. According to Mediabase, Republic Records was 2012s top charting U. S. label, according to Avery Lipman, he and his brother Monte Lipman first conceived of Republic Records at the kitchen table of their apartment, My brother and I had been working at record companies. He was in between jobs and we started putting out as a hobby. We had an approach to the business. The first record we put out happened to work really well, frustrated by the limitations of being an independent with a very small staff, the Lipman brothers accepted an offer from Universal. One of several labels that comprise Universal Motown Republic Group, the newly named Republic Records was formed in 1995 as a sub-label of MCAs Geffen Records, Avery Lipman told HitQuarters that the pairing was a complete disaster, saying, Our ideas and vision didn’t fit with the label. We didn’t trust our own instincts and we let others decide what was right for the project. As of 2006, Universal Republic has adopted an A&R and partnership-based growth strategy, in an era of music industry transition they have proven effective, as Universal Republic has continued to grow in the industrys declining years. In mid-2012, Universal Republic Records changed its name to its former name Republic Records, all Universal Republic Records roster were moved to Republic Records. The label has released albums by Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi. The new Republic became the one label in soundtrack production. On March 31,2014, it was announced that Big Machine and Republic Records revived Dot Records, vH1 and Republic has both used Social media in this campaign. In 2015 Republic Records had songs in six of the spots in the top 10 of the Mediabase Top 40 Chart, in the earlier days, Republic Records released the Bloodhound Gangs EP, Dingleberry Haze, as well as their first LP, Use Your Fingers. Universal Republic has created strategic partnerships and co-ventures, singer Jay Sean and producer Kevin Rudolf of Cash Money Records. Rudolfs single, Let It Rock was certified 3x Platinum and licensed by multiple television networks for sports, Jay Seans debut single Down sold 3 million copies in the United States and 6 million worldwide. Seans follow-up single Do You Remember also sold over a million copies, American singer Taylor Swift with Nashville-based Big Machine Records. Swift today is a Diamond artist with 10 Grammys and 40 million records sold worldwide, jack Johnson on Brushfire Records who has achieved multi-Platinum certifications twice and is estimated to have sold about 8 million albums worldwide
5.
Songwriter
–
A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
6.
Kanye West
–
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Intent on pursuing a career as a rapper, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to widespread critical and commercial success. He went on to pursue a variety of different styles on subsequent albums Late Registration, Graduation, and 808s & Heartbreak. In 2010, he released his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to rave reviews from critics, West released his abrasive sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. His seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016, Wests outspoken views and life outside of music have received significant mainstream attention. He has been a frequent source of controversy for his conduct at award shows, on social media and he is the founder and head of the creative content company DONDA. His 2014 marriage to television personality Kim Kardashian has also been subject to media coverage. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time, three of his albums have been included and ranked on Rolling Stones 2012 update of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. He has also included in a number of Forbes annual lists. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015, West was born on June 8,1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents divorced when he was three years old, after the divorce, he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray West was later a Christian counselor, and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland with startup capital from his son. West, was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, West was raised in a middle-class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois after living in Chicago. At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, according to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it. When asked about his grades in school, West replied, I got As. West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age and his mother recalled that she first took notice of Wests passion for drawing and music when he was in the third grade. Growing up in Chicago, West became deeply involved in its hip hop scene and he started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists
7.
Illangelo
–
He released his debut concept album History of Man on August 20,2013 under his label Hear the Art Inc. Illangelo released a single titled What The Fuss on February 18,2014, earlier that month, he released a series of demos from the pre-House Of Balloons era on his Bandcamp page. On May 2,2014, Illangelo collaborated with the Sydney trio Movement on their self titled debut EP, additionally Like Lust and Ivory went on receive back to back Best New Track on Pitchfork. Illangelo released his single Clockwork, featuring vocalist Phlo Finister, on May 12,2014, shortly after he released a video with Los Angeles filmmaker Lance Drake that is as stunning and futuristic as the original composition. It has since gotten Staff Picked on Vimeo, in an interview with Earmilk on July 1,2014, Illangelo announced that he and Phlo Finister had created a band together called Youthquaker. The groups first release Projections, containing 3 songs, was released via a BitTorrent Bundle, the songs were downloaded over 900,000 times in the first week of release. Zambony – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 03, Night Flight – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 04. Born To Be – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 05, maybe – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 07. Ice Age – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 08, la Rude, Lord of the Flies – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 09. Gold Ribbons – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 11, Party & Bullshit – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 12. Gorgeous Flaws – Producer, Engineer & Mixing 01, high For This – Mixing Engineer 02. What You Need – Mixing Engineer 03, house of Balloons / Glass Table Girls – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 04. The Morning – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 05, wicked Games – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 06. The Party & The After Party – Engineer, Mixing 07, coming Down – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 08. Loft Music – Additional Instrumentation & Engineer, Mixing 09, the Knowing – Producer & Engineer, Mixing Trust Issues – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 01. Lonely Star – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 02, life of the Party – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 03. Thursday – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 04, the Zone – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 05. The Birds – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 06, the Birds – Producer & Engineer, Mixing 07
8.
Record producer
–
A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
9.
Often
–
Often is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd. The track was released on July 31,2014 as the first single from his studio album. The song reached number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 69 on the Canadian Hot 100, the song samples the song Ben Sana Vurgunum sung by the Turkish singer Nükhet Duru. In the United States, Often reached number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100, in Norway, it reached number 12. Often received critical acclaim, with critics praising The Weeknds performance on the track, the song won two awards at the 2015 Much Music Video Awards, Video of the Year and Best Director. The official remix features verses by Rick Ross and Schoolboy Q. A music video for Often was released on 21 August 2014 and it is his fifth most watched video, following The Hills, Cant Feel My Face, Starboy and Earned It, respectively. Since May 2013, RIAA certifications for digital singles include on-demand audio and/or video song streams in addition to downloads
10.
YouTube
–
YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005, Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube now operates as one of Googles subsidiaries. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old, YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service, and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. YouTube began as a venture capital-funded technology startup, primarily from an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006, YouTubes early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name www. youtube. com was activated on February 14,2005, the first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23,2005, and can still be viewed on the site, YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005. The first video to reach one million views was a Nike advertisement featuring Ronaldinho in November 2005. Following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital in November, the site grew rapidly, and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The site has 800 million unique users a month and it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The choice of the name www. youtube. com led to problems for a similarly named website, the sites owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to www. utubeonline. com, in October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13,2006. In March 2010, YouTube began free streaming of certain content, according to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event. On March 31,2010, the YouTube website launched a new design, with the aim of simplifying the interface, Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented, We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter. In May 2010, YouTube videos were watched more than two times per day. This increased to three billion in May 2011, and four billion in January 2012, in February 2017, one billion hours of YouTube was watched every day
11.
Album
–
Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
12.
Music video
–
A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. There are also cases where songs are used in tie in marketing campaigns that allow them to more than just a song. Tie ins and merchandising could be used in toys or marketing campaigns for food, although the origins of music videos date back to musical short films that first appeared in the 1920s, they came into prominence in the 1980s when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by terms including illustrated song, filmed insert, promotional film, promotional clip, promotional video, song video. Music videos use a range of styles of contemporary videomaking techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation, music, combining these styles and techniques has become more popular because of the variation it presents to the audience. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the songs lyrics, other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the songs live performance. Product placement is a technique in music videos, exemplified by the appearance of the Beats Pill in numerous hip hop videos. In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B, marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various performers to promote sales of their song The Little Lost Child. Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a form of entertainment known as the illustrated song. In 1926, with the arrival of many musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts featured many bands, vocalists and dancers, early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons. The early animated films by Walt Disney, such as the Silly Symphonies shorts and especially Fantasia, the Warner Brothers cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live action musical shorts, featuring such performers as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theaters. Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a short film called St. Louis Blues featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song. Numerous other musicians appeared in short musical subjects during this period, soundies, produced and released from 1940 to 1947, were musical films that often included short dance sequences, similar to later music videos
13.
Billboard Hot 100
–
The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play and online streaming, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday, when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming data, is available on a real-time basis. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, as of the issue for the week ending on April 15,2017, the Hot 100 has had 1,061 different number one hits. The current number one song is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, prior to 1955, Billboard did not have a unified, all-encompassing popularity chart, instead measuring songs by individual metrics. At the start of the era in 1955, three such charts existed, Best Sellers in Stores was the first Billboard chart, established in 1936. This chart ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country, Most Played by Jockeys was Billboards original airplay chart. It ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States. On the week ending November 12,1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, the Top 100 combined all aspects of a singles performance, based on a point system that typically gave sales more weight than radio airplay. The Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. The week ending July 28,1958 was the publication of the Most Played By Jockeys and Top 100 charts. On August 4,1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart, the Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13,1958. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a songs popularity is measured in the United States, the Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to the calculation of the Hot 100. Charts are ranked by number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of radio airplay with Arbitron listener data. Hot Singles Sales, the top selling singles compiled from a sample of retail store, mass merchant and internet sales reports collected, compiled. The chart is released weekly and measures sales of commercial singles. With the decline in sales of singles in the US
14.
Billboard (magazine)
–
Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
15.
Official Charts Company
–
The OCC is operated jointly by the British Phonographic Industry and the Entertainment Retailers Association. Since 1 July 1997, CIN and then the OCC have compiled the official charts, prior to this date, the charts were produced by a succession of market research companies, beginning with the British Market Research Bureau in 1969, and later by Gallup. All of the OCCs charts are published weekly on Friday nights, from 3 August 1969 until 5 July 2015, the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday. Genre-specific charts include UK Dance Chart, UK Indie Chart, UK R&B Chart, UK Rock Chart, the Scottish Singles and Albums Charts ― and the former Welsh Singles and Albums Chart ― appears in listings within the Official Charts Company. It is a regional listing reflecting how sales towards the UK Singles Chart, the Welsh Singles and Album Chart served the same purpose in Wales. It also charts the UK DVD Chart and UK Budget Album Chart, while their music charts are now Friday to Thursday, their video charts remain Sunday to Saturday. On 5 September 2008, the Official UK Charts Company rebranded itself as the Official Charts Company and it later dropped the word Company and became just Official Charts. From May 2012, a new chart was launched – the Official Streaming Chart and this counts audio streams from streaming services Spotify, Deezer, Blinkbox Music, Napster, amongst others. In April 2015, the UKs first vinyl record chart was launched by the Official Charts Company due to the surge of interest in the sector. The chart was launched following the growth of the sector in the UK for the year in a row. Beginning in 2017 the Official Charts Company changed its methodology for calculating the Top 40, prior to January 2017,100 streams counted as one sale of a song. From January onward, the ratio became 150,1, UK Albums Chart UK Singles Chart UK Video Charts UK Singles Downloads Chart UK Album Downloads Chart British Phonographic Industry Official Charts Company website
16.
Kiss Land
–
Kiss Land is the debut studio album by Canadian singer The Weeknd. The album was released in the United States on September 10,2013, by XO, Kiss Land was supported by six singles, Kiss Land, Belong to the World, Love in the Sky, Live For, Pretty and Wanderlust. The albums sole guest appearance comes from frequent collaborator Drake, the albums production was primarily handled by DannyBoyStyles, The Weeknd and Jason DaHeala Quenneville. Kiss Land received generally positive reviews from critics, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 95,000 copies in its first week. As of August 2015, the album has sold 273,000 copies in the US, on March 17,2013, The Weeknd announced his debut album would be titled Kiss Land. In July 2013, Amazon. com revealed that the album would be released on August 27,2013, on July 22,2013, it was announced that the album would be pushed back from August 27,2013, until September 10,2013. In July 2013, during an interview with Complex, The Weeknd described the album, saying, Kiss Land symbolizes the tour life, just like House of Balloons symbolizes Toronto and my experiences there, but its a world that I created. When I think about Kiss Land, I think about a terrifying place and its a place Ive never been to before that Im very unfamiliar with. A lot of it is inspired by filmmakers like John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Thats what Kiss Land is to me, an environment thats just honest fear. I dont know who I am right now and Im doing all these things in these settings that Im not familiar with. To me, its the most terrifying thing ever, so when you hear the screams in the record and you hear all these horror references and you feel scared, listen to the music because I want you to feel what Im feeling. Kiss Land is like a horror movie and he also explained the albums second single Belong to the World, saying, Belong to the World is about falling in love with the wrong person. There are some songs where I talk about the same person, whatever that situation was, I spent the whole album focusing on that situation. He also explained where the title Kiss Land came from, saying, the title came from a conversation that I overheard and those words stuck out. Someone said, Kiss Land and I thought, Thats going to be the title of my album, when I put out everyone was like, What the hell. This is going to be corny and its going to be all lovey-dovey. On July 21,2013, the cover was released. On September 1,2013, the album was made available for streaming on NPR Music
17.
Trilogy (The Weeknd album)
–
Trilogy is a compilation album by Canadian singer The Weeknd, released on 13 November 2012, by XO and Republic Records. It is composed of re-mixed and remastered versions of his 2011 mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, Trilogy received generally positive reviews from critics, who reinforced the previous acclaim of the mixtapes, although some found it indulgent. It was promoted with three singles and The Weeknds concert tour during September to November 2012, the album charted at number five and number four in Canada and the United States, respectively. During 2011, The Weeknd released a series of mixtapes—House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence—, the mixtapes were principally recorded with producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo, at Dream House and Site Sound Studios in Toronto, additional sessions took place at Sterling Road Studios. The Weeknd released the mixtapes online as free digital downloads, in September 2012, The Weeknd signed with Republic Records in a joint venture with his own imprint label XO. The mixtapes were subsequently remastered and compiled for Trilogy, along with three previously unreleased songs, which were recorded at Liberty Studios in Toronto, Twenty Eight, Valerie, and Til Dawn were included as bonus tracks at the end of each of the compilations discs. A video accompanying the track Rolling Stone was released on 3 October 2012, the Weeknd previewed the album at a listening party in New York City on 24 October. It was his first major media event, I usually dont like to spoon feed my audience because I grew up idolising story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same. The Rolling Stone video takes place in a dimly lit studio which represents the two worlds I have been stuck in, the gloomy side represents the mainstream world while the other side represents the underground. The girl holding on represents you, the video for his first official single from Trilogy, a revamped version of Wicked Games, was released just weeks later on 18 October 2012, again through his website. This time, the shot opens on a dancing, purse-lipped model type, but her shadow soon vamps away from her body, the albums lead single Wicked Games was released on 22 October 2012. It charted at number 43 on the Canadian Hot 100, and in the United States, it reached number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 and his fourth video release, and third to promote Trilogy, is a collaboration with fellow Toronto musician, rapper Drake. This video had been rumoured for months and was a popular track given the collaboration of OVOXO, J. Abrams jealous, a woman dancing in lace lingerie, and Drake. Its a fitting video – its film noir, Twin Peaks-y vibe perfectly matches the tracks subtle sexy-creepy energy, the second single Twenty Eight was released on 13 November. The Weeknd toured in support of Trilogy during September to November 2012, the Zone was released as the albums third and final single three days later. With Trilogy now on iTunes and in-stores, The Weeknd turned to his fifth official video, dropped on 13 February 2013, and directed by up-and-coming visionary Nabil Elderkin. Hes under surveillance—the crew is watching, hologram girl is watching, the line between whats real and whats imagined is blurred, but one thing is clear—this video is definitely NSFW. Trilogy received generally positive reviews from critics, at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 79, based on 19 reviews
18.
House of Balloons
–
House of Balloons is the debut mixtape by Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd. It was released as a download on March 21,2011. The mixtape was released on his official website. Its music incorporates electronic and urban genres, including R&B and soul, along with hop, indie rock. The contributions to the production came from Canadian record producers such as Doc McKinney, Zodiac and Illangelo. In September 2013, The Weeknd revealed that the House of Balloons is a real place, the albums eclectic music uses samples of songs by Beach House and Aaliyahs 2001 song Rock the Boat. The title track heavily samples Siouxsie and the Banshees 1980 single Happy House, the track The Knowing samples Cherry-Coloured Funk by Cocteau Twins. Pitchfork Medias Eric Grandy writes that the track has The Weeknd emoting in an androgynous falsetto one minute. Paul Lewster of The Guardian views that, although more than half of the mixtape features samples, the song High for This was featured in the promo for the final season of the HBO show Entourage in July 2011. On November 24,2011, The Weeknd’s first official video, for his song The Knowing. The song was first released on House of Balloons and the video was directed by French filmmaker Mikael Colombu, preceded by a string of low-profile buzz single releases throughout 2010, the mixtape attracted significant interest due to the then-anonymous identity of the individual behind The Weeknd. Metacritic, which assigns a rating based on reviews by industry professionals, gave House of Balloons a rating of 87. Stated that House of Balloons easily stands as one of the years best debuts so far, hipster, sputnikmusics Tyler Fisher said that despite being a free album, House of Balloons feels like a true album, a true labor of love. In December 2011, Metacritic determined that House of Balloons was the third best-reviewed project of the year, additionally, the mixtape was featured on several music critics and publications end-of-year albums lists. Complex called it the best album of 2011, Stereogum ranked it number 5, The Guardian ranked it number 8, club ranked it number 6, SPIN ranked it number 13, while Pitchfork ranked it number 10. As a whole, House of Balloons was the seventh most frequently mentioned album in music publications year-end top ten lists, the mixtape was named as one of the longlisted of nominees for the 2011s Polaris Music Prize. The mixtapes title track, House of Balloons was placed on Pitchforks list of top 100 songs of 2011 at number 57, sample credits What You Need contains excerpts of Rock the Boat performed by Aaliyah. House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls samples Happy House performed by Siouxsie, the Party & The After Party samples Master of None performed by Beach House
19.
Thursday (album)
–
Thursday is the second mixtape by Canadian singer The Weeknd, independently released on August 19,2011. It follows his critically acclaimed, Polaris Music Prize-nominated debut mixtape House of Balloons and its music incorporates downtempo, dubstep, dream pop, hip hop, rock and reggae styles. As with his previous works, Canadian record producers Doc McKinney, Young Money artist Drake contributes guest vocals to the track The Zone. Thursday received generally positive reviews critics, who drew comparisons to House of Balloons. Rolling Stone and The Birds Part 1 were released as singles to precede the mixtapes release. Thursday was later remastered and packaged with The Weeknds compilation album Trilogy, Thursday received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications. Club said, Its a rare songwriter who can craft music thats so repellent yet also so irresistible, alex Young of Consequence of Sound said, Despite the ridiculously high highs of this album, it fails to maintain a great pace throughout. It struggles back and forth between good and great, whereas its foregoer grabbed great by the balls on the first track and never let go. Benjamin Boles of Now said, Its not quite perfect, his voice is the star of the show but is buried under the clever beats. But thats a small complaint about someone whos looking more and more one of the most exciting artists to emerge this year. Brandon Soderberg of Pitchfork said, Though theres less breathing space on Thursday, BBC Musics Mike Diver made a positive review, saying, File him beside Frank Ocean as an R&B star set to climb to new heights in 2012. Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine wrote, The Weeknd is in command of his craft. Hes earned my trust, as would any other artist who had released two of the years best albums. Tyler Fisher of Sputnikmusic said, Listening to something like Thursday is the form of escapism that so many of us flock to music for. Thats a quality that should be celebrated, not criticized for its lack of immediate pleasure, jody Rosen of Rolling Stone gave a mixed review, commenting, While its refreshing to hear an R&B singer emphasizing the psychic toll of libertinism, his angst sex grows tiresome. Once in a while, cant this dude just get laid, all songs were produced by Doc McKinney and Illangelo. Sample credits The Birds Part 2 samples Sandpaper Kisses performed by Martina Topley-Bird
20.
Echoes of Silence
–
Echoes of Silence is the third mixtape by Canadian singer The Weeknd, released December 21,2011, by his official website. The release follows his Polaris Music Prize-nominated debut release House of Balloons and his second mixtape Thursday, the project is the final installment in the trilogy of free albums released by The Weeknd in 2011. The album was preceded by the release of the single, Initiation, long-time collaborator Carlo Illangelo Montagnese returned to produce the bulk of the project, with other production contributions coming from Clams Casino and DropxLife of the XO crew. Rapper Juicy J contributes a short interlude at the end of Same Old Song. Echoes of Silence received widespread acclaim from critics, at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received an average score of 82, based on 17 reviews. Club said, Its Tesfayes total commitment to his persona that makes Echoes Of Silence so entrancingly chilling. Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune said, Its an impressive consolidation of his strengths, kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly said, Tesfayes velvety melodies infuse his trippy minimalism like incense smoke, getting lost only on the too-woozy title track. Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone said, The Weeknd has helped make R&B a creepier place, crooning too-honest come-ons over cavernous, ballad-slow tracks that balance leering sensuality with vague menace. Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine said, Disappointing as Echoes of Silence may be as a collection of songs, brandon Soderberg of Spin said, Echoes is a profound listen that, despite its veneer of cynicism, oozes pain and crisis. The album was named as a nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize on June 14,2012. This marks the second consecutive year The Weeknd has been nominated for the award
21.
Wicked Games
–
Wicked Games is the debut single by Canadian singer The Weeknd. It was recorded at Site Sound Studios and mixed at Liberty Studios in Toronto, producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo co-wrote the song and performed all instrumentation. Originally recorded for The Weeknds 2011 mixtape House of Balloons, the song was remastered and released as the single for his 2012 album Trilogy. It was released as a single on October 22,2012, by XO. Upon release, the single received acclaim from music critics. On May 9,2013, Wicked Games was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The music video for Wicked Games premiered on October 18,2012 on The Weeknds YouTube account on Vevo, since its release, the music video has received over 90 million views on YouTube. Credits adapted from liner notes for Trilogy
22.
Twenty Eight (song)
–
Twenty Eight is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd. It was recorded at Site Sound Studios and mixed at Liberty Studios in Toronto, producer Doc McKinney and Illangelo co-wrote the song and performed all instrumentation. The song was one of three tracks included at the end of each of the compilations discs from The Weeknds 2012 album Trilogy. The song was released as the single for the album, released as a digital single on December 10,2012, by XO. Credits adapted from liner notes for Trilogy, the Weeknd – composer, primary artist Doc McKinney – composer, instrumentation, producer Carlo Illangelo Montagnese – composer, instrumentation, mixing, producer
23.
The Zone (The Weeknd song)
–
Thursday is the second mixtape by Canadian singer The Weeknd, independently released on August 19,2011. It follows his critically acclaimed, Polaris Music Prize-nominated debut mixtape House of Balloons and its music incorporates downtempo, dubstep, dream pop, hip hop, rock and reggae styles. As with his previous works, Canadian record producers Doc McKinney, Young Money artist Drake contributes guest vocals to the track The Zone. Thursday received generally positive reviews critics, who drew comparisons to House of Balloons. Rolling Stone and The Birds Part 1 were released as singles to precede the mixtapes release. Thursday was later remastered and packaged with The Weeknds compilation album Trilogy, Thursday received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications. Club said, Its a rare songwriter who can craft music thats so repellent yet also so irresistible, alex Young of Consequence of Sound said, Despite the ridiculously high highs of this album, it fails to maintain a great pace throughout. It struggles back and forth between good and great, whereas its foregoer grabbed great by the balls on the first track and never let go. Benjamin Boles of Now said, Its not quite perfect, his voice is the star of the show but is buried under the clever beats. But thats a small complaint about someone whos looking more and more one of the most exciting artists to emerge this year. Brandon Soderberg of Pitchfork said, Though theres less breathing space on Thursday, BBC Musics Mike Diver made a positive review, saying, File him beside Frank Ocean as an R&B star set to climb to new heights in 2012. Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine wrote, The Weeknd is in command of his craft. Hes earned my trust, as would any other artist who had released two of the years best albums. Tyler Fisher of Sputnikmusic said, Listening to something like Thursday is the form of escapism that so many of us flock to music for. Thats a quality that should be celebrated, not criticized for its lack of immediate pleasure, jody Rosen of Rolling Stone gave a mixed review, commenting, While its refreshing to hear an R&B singer emphasizing the psychic toll of libertinism, his angst sex grows tiresome. Once in a while, cant this dude just get laid, all songs were produced by Doc McKinney and Illangelo. Sample credits The Birds Part 2 samples Sandpaper Kisses performed by Martina Topley-Bird
24.
Kiss Land (song)
–
Kiss Land is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd, from his debut studio album Kiss Land. It was released on May 17,2013 by XO and Republic Records, upon its release, it received critical acclaim from music critics, who appreciated the progression from his earlier works. Although it was assumed to have been the lead single. On June 25,2013, a month later the video was released, featuring adult actresses London Keyes, Asphyxia Noir. It is considered NSFW due to the explicit content, but a censored version was released as well. In 2011, The Weeknd released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, the following year, he released the compilation album Trilogy, which contained his earlier projects with three newly recorded tracks. The Weeknd began work on his studio album Kiss Land in 2013, he revealed the title. The song was co-produced by DannyBoyStyles, The Weeknd himself and Jason DaHeala Quenneville and it is divided into two musical portions, the first section discusses themes of sex, while the latter half addresses the topics of alcoholism. Upon its release, Kiss Land was met with acclaim from music critics, lauren Nostro from Complex complimented The Weeknds growth as an artist, noting that he continually refines his defined aesthetic, and noted that the track boasts a bridge. Global Grinds Brittany Lewis described the song as hypnotic, while Carl Williott of Idolator thought that the use of a womans scream brought a sinister lothario thing to absurd new heights
25.
Belong to the World
–
Kiss Land is the debut studio album by Canadian singer The Weeknd. The album was released in the United States on September 10,2013, by XO, Kiss Land was supported by six singles, Kiss Land, Belong to the World, Love in the Sky, Live For, Pretty and Wanderlust. The albums sole guest appearance comes from frequent collaborator Drake, the albums production was primarily handled by DannyBoyStyles, The Weeknd and Jason DaHeala Quenneville. Kiss Land received generally positive reviews from critics, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 95,000 copies in its first week. As of August 2015, the album has sold 273,000 copies in the US, on March 17,2013, The Weeknd announced his debut album would be titled Kiss Land. In July 2013, Amazon. com revealed that the album would be released on August 27,2013, on July 22,2013, it was announced that the album would be pushed back from August 27,2013, until September 10,2013. In July 2013, during an interview with Complex, The Weeknd described the album, saying, Kiss Land symbolizes the tour life, just like House of Balloons symbolizes Toronto and my experiences there, but its a world that I created. When I think about Kiss Land, I think about a terrifying place and its a place Ive never been to before that Im very unfamiliar with. A lot of it is inspired by filmmakers like John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Thats what Kiss Land is to me, an environment thats just honest fear. I dont know who I am right now and Im doing all these things in these settings that Im not familiar with. To me, its the most terrifying thing ever, so when you hear the screams in the record and you hear all these horror references and you feel scared, listen to the music because I want you to feel what Im feeling. Kiss Land is like a horror movie and he also explained the albums second single Belong to the World, saying, Belong to the World is about falling in love with the wrong person. There are some songs where I talk about the same person, whatever that situation was, I spent the whole album focusing on that situation. He also explained where the title Kiss Land came from, saying, the title came from a conversation that I overheard and those words stuck out. Someone said, Kiss Land and I thought, Thats going to be the title of my album, when I put out everyone was like, What the hell. This is going to be corny and its going to be all lovey-dovey. On July 21,2013, the cover was released. On September 1,2013, the album was made available for streaming on NPR Music
26.
Love Me Harder
–
Love Me Harder is a song recorded by American singer Ariana Grande and Canadian singer The Weeknd from Grandes second studio album, My Everything. It was written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Peter Svensson, Ali Payami, Abel Tesfaye, the song was produced by Payami and Peter Carlsson, with Svensson serving as a vocal producer. It was released by Republic Records on September 30,2014 as the single from the album. Love Me Harder is a synthpop and R&B track, with throbbing’, electro-heavy chorus, guitar riff, lyrically, the song focuses on a deeper understanding of love as an emotional and physical state, having double entendres about rough sex. The Hannah Lux Davis-directed video finds Grande and The Weeknd in an house in the desert filled with sand. As of March 2016, the song has sold 1.2 million copies in the United States, the collaboration between Grande and The Weeknd was pushed by their mutual label, Republic Records. Grande and The Weeknd were up-and-coming artists in 2013, with releasing their debut albums that year. In an interview with Billboard, Republic Records executive vice president Charlie Walk stated, in June 2014, Walk posted a photo on his Instagram with the caption, When you talk about artist development and pure talent, The Weekend comes to mind. I just heard a duet with a friend of ours that’s a global smash. Later, it was revealed that the collaborator was Ariana Grande, later, Walk admitted that the collaboration was part of a strategy to promote The Weeknd, saying, Its no accident that the new Ariana track features The Weeknd. Thats strategic, because hes about to blow up with his own record, on June 30,2014, it was revealed the track list for Grandes second studio album and the collaboration with The Weeknd was called Love Me Harder. Chris Martins of Spin thought the preview has Grande getting downright nasty on the track, later, Love Me Harder was announced to be the albums fourth single, being serviced to US rhythmic-crossover radio on September 30,2014. Love Me Harder was written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Peter Svensson, Ali Payami, Abel Tesfaye and it was produced by Payami and Peter Carlsson, while Svensson provided vocal production. The song is a duet with Canadian singer and songwriter The Weeknd, according to the sheet music published at Musicnotes. com by Kobalt Music Group, the song is composed in the key of E major with a moderately tempo of 100 beats per minute. Grandes vocals range from the note of E3 to E5, Rob Copsey wrote for The Official Charts Company that the song remind him of Drake at his most emotional, citing 2010’s Find Your Love and 2013s Hold On, Were Going Home as examples. Lyrically, the song has Grande demanding for romantic satisfaction, filled with double entendres about rough sex, in the bridge, Grande and Weeknd trade provocative oohs. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted that Grande allowed The Weeknd to suck up the spotlight on the track, jason Lipshut of Billboard noted that the pairing somehow makes sense, praising Weeknds ultra-sincere crooning and the driving guitar riff for being delicious 80s cheese. Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times called it a darker R&B jam than anyone probably expected from a 21-year-old singer once known for her endless supply of pastel princess dresses
27.
Earned It
–
Earned It, alternatively titled Earned It, is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd. The song was released as the single from the soundtrack to the 2015 film Fifty Shades of Grey and was included on The Weeknds second studio album Beauty Behind the Madness. Earned It peaked at three on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming The Weeknds first top five single. The songs popularity made Fifty Shades of Grey the latest soundtrack to generate concurrent top-ten singles with Ellie Gouldings Love Me like You Do, which also peaked at number three. Its music video was directed by the films director Sam Taylor-Johnson, features the lead actress Dakota Johnson, and it features clips of the film. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards, the Weeknd was involved in the project very early. Tom Mackay, a manager at Republic Records, explained, He worked on a number of songs for a number of scenes, some were working and some weren’t, but he just kept at it, and kept at it, and kept at it. In the end, he wrote ‘Earned It’ and it’s the biggest song of his career to date, it’s the only song that’s in the movie twice. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson said The Weeknds voice is instantly seductive, which fit the film perfectly, the singer agreed saying the film and his music is like a match made in heaven. An alternate version of the single, with a new slightly long intro, was included in The Weeknds album Beauty Behind the Madness. Earned It is a pop and R&B song. It is written in the key of D minor with a tempo of 40 beats per minute in 68 time. There is an alternation between the chords Gm7 and Dm7, and Tesfayes vocals span two octaves from D3 to D5. The song won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, while also being nominated for Best R&B Song, the song also received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards. In The Weeknds native Canada, Earned It peaked at eight on the Canadian Hot 100. It became The Weeknds second top 10 hit, after his collaboration with Ariana Grande on the number seven peaking hit, Love Me Harder, the music video, directed by the films director Sam Taylor-Johnson, was shot at the Palace Theater in Los Angeles. It was released on Vevo and YouTube on 21 January 2015 and it includes the BDSM theme as seen in the film. Republic –0602547300003 Earned It music video on YouTube Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
28.
The Hills (song)
–
The Hills is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd. It was released on May 27,2015 as the single from his second studio album. The Hills was a success, appearing on several year-end lists. In the singers native Canada, the peaked at number one. In the United States it also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the song also made the top 10 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. It reached the top 20 in Denmark and Sweden while reaching the top 40 in The Netherlands, Norway, a music video for the song was released on May 27,2015. It was directed by Grant Singer, two official remixes of the song features rappers Eminem and Nicki Minaj. The song is written in the key of C minor in common time with a tempo of 113 beats per minute, the vocals in the song span from C4 to E♭6. Producer Illangelo stated ”I’m very optimistic and positive with anything I put my energy towards, so for me, it’s the perfect marriage of that. The Hills received critical acclaim, with most reviewers praising The Weeknds return to form after his pop-oriented direction with Earned It. Brian Mansfield of USA Today noted that when a song takes its hook from a horror film — Wes Cravens 1977 cult classic The Hills Have Eyes — you know theres bound to be trouble and she goes on to trace the songs melodic and lyrical origins to the Ethiopian diaspora. She continues, writing that the familiarity of Tesfaye’s strained vibrato makes him the inheritor of musical legacies that Abyssinia has birthed for generations. Continuing, Phull goes on to say that When it comes to being a Don Juan with a dark side, rolling Stone ranked The Hills at number 11 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015. The same magazine also included Earned It and Cant Feel My Face on the same list. Billboard ranked The Hills at number 10 on its year-end list for 2015, Number one hits arent supposed to be this sonically adventurous and dark, theres barely a pop hook to speak of here——just a beguiling, harrowing soundscape thats impossible to forget. Time named The Hills the fifth-best song of 2015, the Village Voice ranked The Hills at number 22 on their annual year-end critics poll, Cant Feel My Face was ranked at number three on the same poll. In the United States, The Hills entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20 for the chart dated June 13,2015, the following week, the single declined by one position but earned the largest gain in streams on the chart. The Hills spent six weeks at number one before being replaced by Adeles Hello on the issue dated of November 14,2015
29.
Can't Feel My Face
–
Cant Feel My Face is a song performed by Canadian singer The Weeknd from his second studio album Beauty Behind the Madness. The song was released on June 8,2015 as the single from the album. It was written by Max Martin, Peter Svensson, Ali Payami, Savan Kotecha and The Weeknd, critics lauded Cant Feel My Face, comparing the sound of the song to the works of Michael Jackson, Rolling Stone ranked it as the best song of 2015. It was also nominated for two Grammy Awards, Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, the song experienced commercial success, peaking at number one on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100. Cant Feel My Face leaked in late May 2015 and it was officially released on June 8,2015, following a performance by The Weeknd at Apples Worldwide Developers Conference on the same day. The song is composed in the key of A minor and has a tempo of 108 beats per minute, the vocal range spans from E3 to E5. Musically, Alice Vincent of The Daily Telegraph characterised as a synth-laden, upbeat pop song, Cant Feel My Face was lauded by music critics. Brennan Carley of Spin called it pop perfection, a definitive, all-in jam and predicted the song would reach Uptown Funk levels of airplay. Times Esther Zuckerman deemed the song a New Favorite Contender for Song of the Summer, in June 2015, Jason Lipshutz of Billboard named it one of the 10 Best Songs of 2015. Consequence of Sound compared the sound of the song to Michael Jackson, complex wrote, The song has a classic pop feel to it, with The Weeknd channeling a bit of Michael Jackson while crooning over the bouncy, and energetic production from Max Martin. Rolling Stone ranked Cant Feel My Face at number one on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015, village Voice named Cant Feel My Face the third-best single released in 2015 on their annual year-end critics poll, Pazz & Jop. It produced first-week digital sales of 93,000 units and garnered 4.2 million US streams and 38 million airplay audiences. In its third week on the chart, the reached number six on the Hot 100, making it his third top 10 hit. After three weeks at number two, Cant Feel My Face ascended to one on the Hot 100, replacing OMIs Cheerleader. In its third week at one, The Hills reached number two, becoming the first act since The Black Eyed Peas to attain the top two positions on the Hot 100 as a lead artist. The following week, The Hills topped the chart, making The Weeknd the first artist since Taylor Swift to replace themselves at the top spot and it spent nineteen weeks in the charts top ten before dropping out on November 21,2015. As of March 2016, it has sold 2,413,488 copies in the US and it debuted in Australia on June 20 at number 27. It later peaked at two on that chart
30.
In the Night (The Weeknd song)
–
In the Night is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd from his second studio album Beauty Behind the Madness. The song was released as the fourth single on November 17,2015. The song is written in the key of A minor in compound meter with a tempo of 112 beats per minute. Tesfayes vocals span from E4 to D6 in the song, the song was well received by critics. Like The Weeknds previous collaboration with Max Martin, Cant Feel My Face, jon Dolan of Rolling Stone wrote Sometimes, the album stirs up real drama. In the Night could be just one more Dirty Diana-style ode to a predatory babe — until we learn the woman in the song is the victim of abuse, dancing to relieve the pain. The real star here is, as usual, his voice, tapping at the uppermost fragile glass of his register without quite breaking it, the songs music video, directed by BRTHR, was released on December 8,2015 and features Tesfayes then-girlfriend, fashion model Bella Hadid. It depicts Hadid as a waitress at a nightclub of dancers frequented by dangerous gangsters. The leading gangster takes a liking to the waitress, as Tesfayes character watches helplessly as she. The clip grows increasingly disorienting, building to a sequence in which the waitress. The video ends with the dancers dragging a gangsters corpse into a sea, with camera footage. A shortened version of the video was released on February 14,2016, on March 22,2017 the full music video has surpassed 50 Million views
31.
Acquainted
–
Acquainted is a song by Canadian singer The Weeknd recorded for his second studio album Beauty Behind the Madness. It was written and produced by him along with Jason DaHeala Quenneville, Danny Boy Styles Schofield, Carlos Illangelo Montagnese and it was set to impact contemporary hit radio on April 12,2016, though its release to those stations did not occur. A working version of Acquainted referred to as Girls Born in the 90s leaked in May 2015, the song is written in the key of G minor with a moderate tempo of 106 beats per minute in common time. The song alternates between the chords Gm and F, and the span from F3 to C6. The music video was directed by Nabil Elderkin. Production commenced on February 9,2016
