The Weeknd Beauty Behind the Madness

It’s hard to believe Beauty Behind the Madness is only The Weeknd’s second studio album, given Abel Tesfaye’s rapid and unorthodox rise to pop-music prominence. The bizarre, remarkable sound pioneered on his Trilogy mixtapes—especially the still infinitely playable House of Balloons—is so different, it seems The Weeknd’s current status was unavoidable. With Beauty, Tesfaye agrees to compromise, just a teeny bit, in order to craft more accessible hits. But this is not a crossover attempt. He won’t meet you halfway. He glances in your direction and expects you to leap into his world.

The songs we’ve already heard—“Often,” “The Hills,” 50 Shades of Grey slow burner “Earned It” and the perfect “Can’t Feel My Face”—remain infectious, the ones we want to listen to over and over, along with “Losers,” a bubbling-then-exploding track featuring British singer-songwriter Labrinth, and the soulful, ’70s-ish Kanye collabo “Tell Your Friends.” Beauty’s second half gets a bit bogged down by some odd and unexpected ’80s sounds, from the Flashdance-y “In the Night” to the full-on hair ballad “Angel,” which unfortunately brings both Bonnie Tyler-style pounding drums and a children’s chorus at the end. A wholly unnecessary teaming with Ed Sheeran feels like a blues-lite version of Thriller’s “The Girl Is Mine.” “Prisoner” fares better on the duet front, stacked with the dark, bleating bump that permeates The Weeknd’s earlier work. Even Lana Del Rey’s feathery uselessness can’t ruin it.