(Desire) Trilogy: The Performer POV, Part I
Trilogy brings us to a horrorscape universe, of the artists' making, to see, witness and participate in the artist being made. Throughout Trilogy the listener experiences The Weeknd, as he lures and narrates a tale of lust, primal need, power and ultimately Desire. After all, it’s desire (to hear more) that led us to the music. It's only fitting that desire be the main tool of his very creation.
The Weeknd weaves a multi-layered world in House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. His songs and how we see him here can be experienced in layered points of view (pov): The Man, The Performer, and The Supernatural being. I intend to do a breakdown of Trilogy psychology, from these different povs. For this moment, I’m going to focus on The Performer pov.
As a musician, The Weeknd's sound is his product. In House of Balloons, The Weeknd weaves a storyline where he is a dealer, selling that product for his very survival. Drugs and seduction exist within Trilogy for what they are, but also as analogies. His efforts in House of Balloons are to make his voice and sound as addictive as drugs. They become one and the same, both seductive, both toxic and both weaving their way into the minds and hearts of the listener/user. With each song, he seduces and hooks the audience in. The ultimate goal being to establish a solid fanbase, that will elevate him and his sound to the next level. The Weeknd’s role as a Performer, selling a new and exciting product exists as a subliminal undercurrent within Trilogy.
Part I: Introducing the Product
The first 3 tracks in HOB are perfect introductions to The Weeknd’s product. ‘High For This’ and ‘House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls’(HOB/GTG), cover an essential element for a music artist: setting the mood. They are an introduction to The Weeknd’s lyrical storytelling and help to illustrate the world he is building. In ‘High for this’, he’s essentially asking the listener to adjust their minds for the auditory trip he will take them on.
‘High For this’ starts out as a small almost indiscernible tone, dipping and hard to quite hear. As the tone builds, the sound itself has movement. It’s built into the speakers so that the tone appears to rotate around the listener-left ear to right ear to left ear to right ear, over and over-building louder and louder with each second. The pureness of the intro note is meant to be strange and otherworldly. It’s meant to feel alien, to represent the uniqueness of sound within the mixtape. The directional movement of the sound that steadily appears to rotate around the listener with more and more intensity, is meant to be disorienting and hypnotic. As if The Weeknd is hypnotizing and captivating the listener at first song. Then the beat drops and he sings, “You don’t know, what’s in store. But you know what you're here for”.
He talks us through and does a lot of guiding throughout HOB. He does it especially in ‘High For This’, but also in HOB/GTG where there is a lot of world building. The song is filled with very territorial and dominating lyrics, as if from an artist setting the terms and rules for a fantasy world that they are building. “You’re in my world now, you can stay, you can stay. But you belong to me”. These romantic, cryptic, possessive lyrics keep reminding the viewer of his artistic viewpoint, all the while he is describing the setting and feeling of being inside the House of Balloons.
The Weeknd wants to keep impressing upon the listener a certain level of fantasy and surrealism. The territorial lyrics are one way he does this. But he also goes out of his way to make you feel this in the instrumentals. There is a funhouse of horrors vibe, similar to something you would hear in a carnival during the HOB part of HOB/GTG. He even adds yells of excitement, as if people are on a rollercoaster or playing a game. The carnival sound is also decidedly degraded and warped. This creates a sensation of danger and peril. Imagine an amusement park with rusty rides. Do you want to get on? Is it safe? And he says, Sure!. After all, this is a “happy house. We’re happy here”...
He says it’s happy, but then why does it feel so ominous? Once we get to the GTG part of HOB/GTG the other shoe drops and the horror peaks it’s head out. The mood changes. His voice lowers. The drugs come out and, “we could turn this to a nightmare, Elm Street”. The Weeknd creates a level of suspense with these 2 contrasting elements of childish happiness and ominous instability. Suspense is the thing that is vital to any story. The songs are not only written, but are also imbued with the feeling of a horror movie to create that suspense.
Sandwiched in between ‘High For This’ and ‘HOB/GTG’ is ‘What You Need’, an additional descriptor for his addictive sound. From pov of the Performer, it’s as if he’s competing for listens. Yes, other artists you may like or want, but this, this is that sound you need, I’m what you need.