An Album A Day... the Beginning
Gonna be a long year.
What’s up everyone! Welcome to a new series I like to call, “An Album A Day…” (original, ain’t it?). This year, I want to push myself to do more (sorta) reviews and dive deeper into all styles and genres of music. It’s quite simple. Every day, I will use Chosic, a random album generator, to give me an album under the category “Top Albums of All Time.” Then, I will talk about it… that’s all! I’m not here to make some extravagant and detailed criticism, I’m here to flex my writing muscles and create some conversation about an artist and album. So sit back, relax, and try to enjoy my ramblings about musical nonsense — and hopefully I can keep up with this for a year…
January 1, 2026 // The Weeknd - Beauty Behind the Madness
I’m a big The Weeknd fan. Well… let me clarify: I’m a big fan of The Weeknd’s discography bookend trilogies. While I love the first three mixtapes and most recent three efforts, the stretch from Kiss Land to Starboy is quite unfamiliar to me. Of course I’ve heard the big hits, and I’ve at least listened through the albums once before, but many of the tracks are foreign to me.
Browsing through the tracklist, two songs stand out to me: “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills.” The former was the first ever The Weeknd song I had ever heard back when I was in middle school. I hated it. It wasn’t because it was a bad song, but rather because I only listened to metal and “pop music sucked!” or something like that. Even in my edgy teen phase, I recognized how great Abel Tesfaye’s vocals were and how pristine the production was. The latter track, on the other hand, was a more recent experience. Probably within the last year, I finally heard “The Hills” all the way through, and it is an absolute banger. The production style falls in line with my favorite mixtape of his, Echoes of Silence, with its darker undertones and grittier bass. Yet even with this strong impression, I never gave Beauty Behind the Madness a change… until today.
Off the bat, The Weeknd’s signature production style is present with a mix of orchestration and lush synths throughout opener “Real Life.” It’s a beautiful introduction that sets the stage for a vibrant soundscape throughout. However, the album already hits a skid with “Losers,” which is by far my least favorite track on here. I don’t know exactly why, but that piano/synth melody in the chorus is grating and unfortunately takes away from a great feature from Labrinth. But the record is right back on track with highlight “Tell Your Friends” with its catchy chorus harmonies and smooth groove with Tesfaye’s melodic flow.
Other tracks like “Acquainted” and “Shameless” showcase The Weeknd’s versatility with vocals and style, but they really don’t do much for me. They flow nicely within the album, but there isn’t a lot of substance there to latch on to like some of the other highlights featured throughout. Speaking of, “In The Night” is outstanding, with its older poppy synths and Michael Jackson-esque vocals. I feel like this track laid the foundation for some of his big hits, particularly “Starboy” and “Blinding Lights” with the focus on vibrant and energetic melodies rather than his more somber and moodier production. But you know what the best part about the song is? It leads into the actual best song of the album, “As You Are.” Its simpler verse structure and softer production starkly contrasts the prior song, but in a way that they work together to highlight each other’s strengths — one with a more exuberant composition and the other more refined in tonality.
The final three tracks are also great, with solid features from Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey that complement the vibe of the album quite well, and the finale of “Angel” is beautiful and feels like an 80s pop ballad in the best way possible — a gorgeous conclusion to Beauty Behind the Madness. While it isn’t as strong as the trilogies on either side of the discography, the record slots itself nicely as a great piece of The Weeknd’s strong career with some of his strongest tracks.
7.5/10Favorite Track: As You Are
Least Favorite Track: Losers
Final Thoughts: “Can’t Feel My Face” might be the catchiest love song about cocaine.
We'll see if I can keep up with this every day this year, but I'm excited to discover new music and dive deeper into my writing style... I also plan on creating a title card for this series but that's a later problem.