Tuning in to Dawn FM
Abel Tesfaye, known artistically as The Weeknd, has been music’s favorite antihero for the last decade, offering a variety of sex, drugs, and rock & roll that has amassed some of the largest streaming numbers on Spotify worldwide. His latest work, Dawn FM, was released January 7th, 2022 and is his most sonically and conceptually ambitious project to date. To even begin to truly evaluate and understand the explosive and enigmatic world of Dawn FM, you must consider The Weeknd’s previous work and his established character. Three 2011 mixtapes titled House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, introduced the world to the shadowy figure of The Weeknd. His identity at the time was hidden behind layers of EDM inspired beats and R&B vocals that oozed sexual prowess. The first studio album combined these three mixtapes into the crooning and drug-laced Trilogy (2012), which he quickly followed up with 2013 album Kiss Land. His celebrity status was confirmed with 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness, a powerhouse of an album that was simultaneously used in the 50 Shades of Gray film adaptation and nominated for Kid’s Choice Awards.
Next, Abel launched into the Starboy (2016) era, which showed a brighter pop sound and more frantic direction of his music, yet faced criticism due to its divergence away from the anthems that exploded off of Beauty Behind the Madness and other previous works. Tesfaye then shifted again, launching into the mixtape-reminiscent My Dear Melancholy, (2018) a brief 22 minute EP that Abel described as “just this cathartic piece of art,” in an interview with Esquire. Following the success of this EP, The Weeknd was amped up to drop the highly anticipated After Hours in 2020, which ended up being an album made for dancefloors that were closed due to coronavirus. Even with the struggle of the pandemic, however, After Hours began a deeper look into Abel’s psyche and the growth of the character that is The Weeknd.
And all of that lands us here. Enter: Dawn FM. The Weeknd released Dawn FM under short notice, leaving almost no time for fans to prepare to experience the hazy and electrifying journey towards the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. Throughout the hour-long listening experience, we follow as The Weeknd spirals through a lifetime of emotions and complex ideologies, seemingly battling within himself and his notions of life and love.
“This part I do alone
I'll take my lead, I'll take my lead on this road
And I need something (Something) to hold (To hold)
Make me believe in make-beliefs
'Cause after the light, is it dark? Is it dark all alone?
All alone”
Dawn FM
Dawn FM opens with its titular track, creating The Weeknd’s last words of his living character. With birds chirping in the background of deep synth waves, Abel leans into the fear of the unknown as he loses living consciousness and dives into the purgatory state of the album.The opening track ends with a radio host narration from Carrey, welcoming the listener into the dystopian version of an adult radio station. This intro expertly pairs Tesfaye’s new synth-pop musical aura with the haunting radio host narration of Jim Carrey, beginning the driving force of Dawn FM towards the light at increasingly frantic speeds and compelling the listener to follow the journey forward.
The album progresses into “Gasoline,” a song that epitomizes the metaphorical self-destruction Tesfaye has sung about for his entire discography and turning it into literally setting himself on fire. “Gasoline” sets up Dawn FM to decimate previous notions of the character of The Weeknd in favor of rebirth and growth. Following this, “How Do I Make You Love Me” leaves out the last ten years of lyrics about not caring about attachments or what anyone thinks of him, instead opting to long for acceptance from a love interest. The Weeknd even has a moment of coherent awareness of the oddity of the song for him, with lyrics of “It’s quite unusual, seeking approval, begging for it desperately”.
We ride a seamless transition into “Take My Breath,” a five and a half minute adventure of sexual desire and want where The Weeknd seems to literally run out of breath. The explosive energy of the track and dreamlike electropop disco feels like a drug trip gone wild, pulling the listener through a spiral before exploding into a club-intended chorus of euphoric highs. Coming down from this high, “Sacrifice” drives The Weeknd through the ringer of emotions, battling between disinterest in the narrative and resolute devotion towards his love interest. These two songs are a spin out into madness and confusion, as in just five tracks The Weeknd has lost himself entirely to the confusing push and pull of deciphering his past notions of life against his present want for love.
“A Tale By Quincy” follows the personal life story of Quincy Jones, who is a legendary producer with a record 80 Grammy nominations, 28 Grammy awards and recipient of the 1992 Grammy Legend Award. Jones speaks about not being raised with love and therefore, not knowing how to love others. The absence of his mother turns him into a person that pushes women away, and generally evaluates his outlook on love and relationships with the realization of mistakes made. Jones ends his stint on the Dawn FM radio show with “Looking back is a bitch, isn’t it?” seemingly speaking directly to The Weeknd. This story holds deep parallels to The Weeknd’s progression and character development, the pain of relationship trauma and mistakes. Quincy Jones is seemingly a guiding force for The Weeknd in this transition towards the afterlife and through his evaluation of self, offering his advice and making The Weeknd understand his experience is not isolated.
“Don't you dare touch that dial
Because like the song says, you are out of time
You're almost there, but don't panic
There's still more music to come
Before you're completely engulfed in the blissful embrace of that little light you see in the distance
Soon you'll be healed, forgiven, and refreshed
Free from all trauma, pain, guilt, and shame
You may even forget your own name
But before you dwell in that house forever
Here's thirty minutes of easy listening to some slow tracks
Out of Time
Seemingly awakened by Quincy’s story, “Out Of Time” finds The Weeknd in a distressed state of pleading for a second chance from the love interest who has moved on. He is wistfully reminiscent of the relationship and repeatedly mentions that he loves her but is bringing it up “out of time” or too late. As the track continues, the mentioning of his love being out of time also seems to hold a double meaning of being out of time in life, especially as “Out Of Time” fades out into Carrey’s narration of the radio show yet again. Carrey is in a fully blissed-out trance as he tells the listener they are out of time, but there are thirty more minutes of music to come. Creating this idyllic view of the proximity of the afterlife is a perfect midpoint in the album, especially as The Weeknd seems to be somewhat coming to terms with how his perceptions have changed.
Track nine, titled “Here We Go… Again”, is a collaboration with Tyler, The Creator that opens with a full evaluation of Tesfaye’s prideful accomplishments ranging from XO Records to the Super Bowl to a new flame. The chorus melodically plays out that love and loss is better than nothing, yet when Tyler comes onto the track, we see a tepid outlook onto the same love and fear of changing feeling, repeatedly mentioning a signing a prenup and that forever is too long to commit to. A short jingle for Dawn 103.5 closes out the song and transitions the listener into “Best Friends,” a track that takes the sexual energy of The Weeknd’s early works and intertwines it with a matured and evolved understanding of his past pain and trauma. This maturity does not entirely diverge from The Weeknd’s tendencies and established lifestyle, but does show growth post-mentoring from Quincy Jones that leads into the more vulnerable tracks of the back half of Dawn FM.
“Is There Someone Else?” finds The Weeknd asking his partner if they are cheating on him, pleading that he deserves to know and that infidelity will hurt everyone. The lyric “I don’t want to be a prisoner to who I used to be” drives home this realization within him, a distinct shift from his early albums where he openly blew through love interests with little to no regard for their personal feelings in the matter. “Starry Eyed” perfectly follows with Tesfaye asking to support his love interest who has trauma similar to his own. Verse two, however, launches into him telling the same person to kick him to the curb and break him, mentioning how cynical he has become. This duality of love’s potential to be either beautiful or painful is exactly what The Weeknd has seemed to struggle with for his entire discography, and at this point in the album he is driving home his acceptance of the risk of love.
“Intense, graphic, sexy, euphoric
Provocative, edgy, thought-provoking
Technically and visually stunning
A compelling work of science fiction
A suspenseful еxposé
Cinema like you've nеver seen it before
The exotic, bizarre and beautiful world of "After Life"
And this is your invitation to enter”
Every Angel is Terrifying
Track twelve, “Every Angel is Terrifying” offers listeners a century old poem, an EDM transition and an almost comedic sales pitch for the afterlife in less than three minutes. This interlude gives an interesting whiplash of sentiment and is almost jarring to the ear, however the usage of the beginning of Rainer Maria Rilke’s first Duino Elegies poem offers an intensely religious connection for Dawn FM, and the intent of a radio commercial is a strong jerk back into the raucous synth-pop explosion of the album but laced with comedy. Fans have taken to speculating that the product being sold of “After Life” is actually the title of the final album within this trilogy for The Weeknd. While this theory currently remains unproven, Tesfaye has been known to tease fans with upcoming projects in music and social media posts, so the idea of “After Life” coming next is not entirely outside of the scope of possibilities.
“Don’t Break My Heart” further explores The Weeknd’s desire for love. He is openly terrified of being hurt, with a repeating chorus begging that the love interest doesn’t break his heart and that he cannot take any more let downs. This vulnerability is an aspect of The Weeknd that has profoundly continued to expand within Dawn FM, specifically post- “A Tale From Quincy”and being so open on “Don’t Break My Heart” humanizes this character even further. Following this, “I Heard You’re Married” is a collaboration between Tesfaye and Lil Wayne as The Weeknd learns that the woman who he has been with is using him to cheat on her husband. This pain is evident in Tesfaye’s claims of being too old to play games with other people’s hearts as he repeats that he cannot be with the married love interest, with this repetition feeling like it’s more a reminder for himself than an explanation for her.
The penultimate track comes in the form of “Less Than Zero,” where The Weeknd is finding himself unable to discuss his “darkest truth” with his love interest and instead opts to push her away. He sings that he cannot forget his trauma and that it will always be a part of him, and he is fearful of placing this burden upon another person. The fluorescent technopop energy of “Less Than Zero” makes it stand out on the album, and the common fear of being hurt by one’s own vulnerability allows The Weeknd to truly shine on this track.
“You're tuned to Dawn FM
The middle of nowhere on your dial
So sit back and unpack
You may be here a while
Now that all future plans have been postponed
And it's time to look back on the things you thought you owned
Do you remember them well?
And how many grudges did you take to your grave?
When you weren't liked or followed, how did you behave?
Was it often a dissonant chord you were strumming?
Were you ever in tune with the song life was humming?”
Phantom Regret by Jim
Jim Carrey closes out the Dawn FM experience on “Phantom Regret by Jim” which ramps up the prophetic and biblical concept with an on-air sermon to evaluate your life. Throughout the three minute song, Carrey’s blissful wisps ask listeners to let go of their preconceived notions and struggles, instead turning to self-reflection to find joy. The entire song is a home run, with lyrics such as the ones above that force the listener to think and reflect. Without Carrey’s work as a eerie yet affirming radio host, the Dawn FM concept would have fallen apart into just any old album, yet instead Carrey takes his role in stride as a questionably angelic figure guiding you towards the afterlife. The track ends with birds chirping in the distance and the final lyrics referencing a common Catholic phrase of wishing peace as others leave mass. This culminating ending amplifies the conceptual work of Dawn FM as a whole, and no artist could have done it better than Jim Carrey.
“In other words
You gotta be Heaven to see Heaven
Phantom Regret by Jim
The creation of Dawn FM is a masterclass in how to make a conceptual album that is simultaneously relatable and outlandish, merging a variety of styles and meanings into a radio show whose narration is so creatively frightening that you cannot simply turn it off. This album thrives in its own chaos, spiraling within its own lack of control as the singer hurdles towards the light at the end of the tunnel at alarming rates and is forced to deal with his own premonitions on love and life.
Dawn FM as an album elevates to even higher regard when considering that this album shows deep growth for The Weeknd’s character development. Throughout the last decade, we have watched The Weeknd grow from someone who was so consumed by his own trauma that he couldn’t imagine caring for another person to now coming to terms with addressing his past and accepting that to love and lose is better than to be alone entirely. The distinct vulnerability of Dawn FM is built in a way that the story of these songs could be connected over a short period of time or, my preferred understanding, could be a story of growth over time. Looking back at one’s life and evaluating missteps, victories and changes of belief is how Tesfaye envisions The Weeknd’s journey towards the afterlife. The ride on this technopop-fueled journey could not have been more visceral for the listener.
So what comes next? When the radio station fades and the journey towards the light at the end of the tunnel concludes, is there anything left? Is the “After Life” product being sold in “Every Angel is Terrifying” the trilogy conclusion we are all anticipating? To quote the title track, “Cause after the light, is it dark? Is it dark all alone?” Only time will tell what The Weeknd has coming for us, but rest assured that for a man already at the top of his game, Abel Tesfaye has cemented himself as one of the all-time greats with Dawn FM.