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‘House of Balloons’ justifies hype

By Robert Rossi, Managing Editor, on April 4, 2011 1:13 AM

“You don’t know what’s in store/But you know what you’re here for,” sings The Weeknd at the start of his first mixtape, House of Balloons.  A mysterious 20-year-old R&B crooner from Toronto, The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) paints a frightening and revealing portrait of popular music and the culture it defines in the 21^st century through the guise of a sexual encounter.  Rarely does a collection of songs mesh perfectly with the circumstances that surround its creation to capture the essence of both an artistic field and its audience.  House of Balloons, the aural product of youthful lust and consequential guilt engaged in constant conflict, is that work of art.

A month ago, The Weeknd was nothing more than a typo.  The name belonged to a few videos on YouTube with a limited number of views, and a young R&B singer from a city home to only a single superstar hip-hop artist.  Then, on March 20, that artist tweeted a link to one of The Weeknd’s songs on YouTube to his 2 million-plus followers.  The next day, House of Balloons became available for free download on the-weeknd.com.  On March 24, Drake took to Twitter again, updating his status to include lyrics from the mixtape.  By the end of the week, The Weeknd had an iron grip on the blogosphere.

Not since Wiz Khalifa has an artist risen from anonymity with such velocity, and none since Drake has had the product to justify the hype.  The Weeknd’s Drakonian characteristics stretch beyond hometown and Internet domination, perhaps less than coincidentally.  The two most obvious influences on House of Balloons are So Far Gone and Thank Me Later, both musically and lyrically.  The two Canadians are alone on a plane that only Kanye West has ever even hinted at, on the few transcendent moments on 2008’s 808 & Heartbreak.  Both Canucks focus on their respective inabilities to control their primal, self-satisfying instincts, and the subsequent isolation and guilt that plague them because of it.

The Weeknd, unlike Drake, never lets up to address other topics, and for better or worse, encapsulates the mindset of a generation criticized by its elders and its own members for a compulsive obsession with instant gratification.  Every track on House of Balloons oozes sensuality over spacious synthesizer chords and hypnotic, slow-paced drum beats.  Tesfaye uses his high, unblemished tenor to transform short phrases into anguished moans like R&B’s Thom Yorke.  Layered harmonies provide the mixtape’s most powerful crescendos.  One can feel every self-destructive demon cascading onto the track in a sexual avalanche, draining both artist and listener.  The Weeknd’s ability to repeat the process without becoming formulaic or ever failing to convey the passion is incredible.

Each track on House of Balloons shares the same stylistic vision, but none encroach on the purpose or identity of another.  The predominant themes found on each track are sex, drug use, and the similarity between the two.  “Wicked Games,” the song tweeted by Drake, is the climax of the mixtape.  “Bring your love baby, I can bring my shame/Bring the drugs baby, I can bring my pain,” The Weeknd implores to an anonymous female.  “Listen ma, I’ll give you all I got/Get me off of this/I need confidence in myself.”  Sex and drugs are never portrayed as pleasures, but as sedatives meant to numb the feelings of isolation caused by idolizing the vices.

While the tape has no happy endings, the mood it sets can easily lead to late night reenactments of its detailed encounters.  “I think you lost morals girl/But it’s okay/Cause you don’t need ‘em where we’re going,” goes “Loft Music,” the penultimate track.  While The Weeknd knows the emotional consequences of impulsive, heat-of-the-moment sex, he can’t find a better alternative to satisfy the desire.  Perhaps giving into the lust is truly cathartic and the refusal to fully submit to its will causes his guilt.  The possibility is not eliminated, and the music can make two listeners want to find out for themselves.  Play with caution.

House of Balloons is the most fully realized artistic vision to emerge in pop music so far this year.  An instant classic, it will undoubtedly stand up with So Far Gone and Friday Night Lights as monumental turning points in both the prevailing worldviews in hip-hop and the way unknown artists reach the masses.  Written descriptions of either the music or the buzz it caused do justice only to the latter.  Music this good should not be free, but it is, so do yourself a favor, and download.

10/10