The Weeknd: After Hours tour Italy
With over 100 million records sold worldwide, Canadian artist The Weeknd is one of the most popular R&B singers of all time and is considered by the public and critics to be one of the genre’s greatest exponents, winner of three Grammy Awards, eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards and one MTV European Music Award. The award-winning artist, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye has announced new Italian dates of his ”After Hours til Dawn Tour” two summer concerts in Italy at the Hippodrome ” SNAI La Maura ” in Milan on July 26 and 27, 2023.
Who is The Weeknd?
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, was born in Canada on February 16, 1990, to Makkonen and Samra (Ethiopian immigrants) and grew up listening to different musical genres, including soul, Quiet Storm, hip-hop, funk, indie rock and post-punk. Abel started writing songs at the age of 17, working on a soft R&B project with a producer called ”The Noise”. He then met Jeremy Rose in 2010 and together they started forming ”The Weekend”. The name was then changed to ”The Weeknd”, dropping the ‘e’, after Tesfaye started his solo career, but it was dropped for copyright reasons, as there was already a band with that name in Canada. In December 2010, he uploaded several songs to YouTube, including one written together with rapper Drake and signed with ” XO ” (XO is the record label created by the musician in 2011. Abel works with artists such as Belly, Nav and Black Atlass, famous r&b and hip-hop musicians). In this way, he gained media attention and in March 2011 he released a mixtape, ” House of Balloons ”. In 2013, the first studio album ”Kiss Land” was released; in 2015 the second album ” Beauty Behind the Madness ” was released which reached position no. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and commands the attention of the international music scene.
The After Hours project and the arrival of The Weeknd in Italy
In 2020 ”After Hours” was released which generated the singles ”Blinding Lights” (to remember his famous performance in 2021 at the Super Bowl Half Time show) and ”Save Your Tears”. In January 2022, he releases his fifth studio album, ” Dawn FM ”, and promotes it internationally with his first musical stadium tour, ” the After Hours til Dawn Tour ”, initially announcing the arrival of The Weeknd in Italy the date only for July 26, but subsequently added by popular demand, a date also for the 27.
Why is his music so viral?
- Realism: The Weeknd deals with issues such as addiction and emotional manipulation by portraying himself as the ”bad guy”, expressing his dramas and resulting in this, real
- Dark Wave: A peculiarity of his songs is the use of alternative rock and punk samples and adapted in the style of the Canadian singer, he combines the ” dark pop ” (musical and fashion phenomenon linked to pop music lyrics and worldviews metal and dark, especially in the look) with the ” synth pop ” (subgenre of the ” New Wave ”, music characterized by the fusion of various influences and styles) creating a nostalgia effect, a more disenchanted and pragmatic 80s revival than usual.
- Storytelling: Everything is enclosed in interconnected videos and songs with ”hidden” meanings which, in addition to creating mystery, create a narrative about his person
- Character – icon: If there’s one thing today’s music industry has taught us, it’s that music is not the only important part of an artist but also the construction of ”character”. With the success of Trap and in particular of Billie Eilish, it was understood how important the public figure behind the artist is and it is not enough to show a good life or dress extravagantly, but to stand out from the others you need a real own characterization. In the case of Abel, he has built a very strong character, playing the part of a villain who seeks redemption.
Featured Image Source: Rockon
