The Weeknd

– The Hills

Gestern die Pop-Attacke mit I CAN'T FEEL MY FACE - heute gibts zu diesem Song schon einen Clip - und der Song selbst geht dann doch eher Richtung HipHop mit eiskaltem Beat - und ein paar schöneren Stellen darin.

Finally ein neuer Track!!
Mir gefällts unglaublich gut!
5*

Geht schon in Ordnung

Niet direct zo verkeerd.

Das sehr düstere Arrangement gefällt mir hier richtig gut, gesanglich hätte es für meine Begriffe etwas weniger weinerlich und weniger technisch bearbeitet sein dürfen. Aber insgesamt schon keine uninteressante Produktion, hebt sich von der Masse ab.

Gute 4.

▒ Een plezant 'slow' nummerke uit mei 2015 van de 25 jarige: "Abel Tesfaye", een in Canada geboren zanger, songschrijver en muziekproducent van Ethiopische afkomst, alias: "The Weeknd" ☺!!!

...für mich, nach 'Earned It' eher eine leise Enttäuschung - sehr monoton und schleppend zieht sich das Ganze dahin, kommt nicht vom Fleck, wirkt schwerfällig und bedrückend -...

Des arrangements sombres et incisifs.

Un titre torturé à la production impeccable. Son retour promet très grand.

"I only fuck you when it's half past five"

Natürlich in keinster Weise überzeugend, Vorbote des 2015er Albums Chapter III…

sowohl stimmlich (bearbeitet) als auch textlich (s. Ausschnitt) im tiefroten Bereich - abgerundete 2*…

Not bad.

Upgrade. Love the chorus and the rest is quite good.

Ist meiner Meinung deutlich besser als sein Charterfolg "Earned It". Schön ist es trotzdem nicht. *3+

Starts strongly and the chorus keeps it going nicely with the solid production. Probably my favourite song of his.

At first I had trouble distinguishing whether I liked this or found it average, and I think I'm going to have to go with the latter in the end.

That Michael Jackson statement I made in my "Can't Feel My Face" review is nowhere on show here, and he just seems to kinda drone on and on.

Nothing particularly interesting for me here.

EDIT: I now severely dislike this boring, slow drag of a song. Why would anyone ever want to listen to this, when there are countless songs of this type that do this shtick so much better?

To me, the emotion doesn't feel authentic, it all feels like too much of a "put on" to me just for the listener.

And why would I empathize with him in the first place anyway? You're feeling so sad about "fucking bitches" and trying to engage in intercourse with somebody you know is in a relationship? Boo fucking hoo, cry me a fucking river, arsehole.

And it just goes on and on until you're begging for the sweet mercy of the end. Whenever I listen to this, it feels like it NEVER ENDS.

My dislike of this song is also compounded by the fact that it is this song that he will probably be remembered for rather than the vastly superior "Can't Feel My Face" (3 weeks for CFMF, compared to 6 weeks (and counting) for this in the US). I'm not sure if I have ever recalled having such completely different opinions of 2 hit songs from an artist at the same period of time than I have with these two songs.

Anyway, this can just piss off. A complete and utter nightmare. One of the worst songs of 2015, and could perhaps drop to a 1* rating if it frustrates me even more than it already does.

3* -> 2*

EDIT 2: I absolutely deplore this now. I can't believe I've even left it at a 2* rating for so long, it nowhere near deserves it.

The Nicki Minaj and Eminem remixes were sheer overkill, and the amount of times I heard this just made me sick.

I can honestly say that I believe that Eminem's rap on the remix is the worst thing he's ever done. Worse than "Just Lose It" and even "FACK". It is just so incredibly pointless and flavourless, it really just erases whatever diminishing edge and charisma that he was barely clutching on to in the first place. I hope you're happy The Weeknd, dragging down a once almighty rap legend in your web of crap.

This is unquestionably the worst song of the year. Meghan Trainor and even Silento have released songs in 2015 which have offered me more than this.

2* -> 1*

Gefällt mir sehr gut. Vor allem die Bridge hat es in sich. Klare 6.

Bisher der wohl schwächste aller drei bekannten Vorab-Tracks des kommenden Albums "Beauty Behind The Madness". Trotzdem weiss auch "The Hills" zu überzeugen. 4+*

edit im September 2015: Gefällt mir mittlerweile einiges besser. Dass das als erste Single vom Album erst unterging, und nun dank dem Erfolg von "Can't Feel My Face" doch noch erfolgreich wird, ist aber schön zu sehen. Wird wohl auch seine zweite #1 in den US Hot 100 werden, eben nach "Can't Feel My Face"... erinnert deshalb etwas an Rihanna's "Loud"-Album, von dem die zweite Single auch vor der ersten Single den ersten Platz erreiche... 5* sind hier klar angebracht.

edit2 im Februar 2021: Wie bei "Starboy" auch hier eigentlich schon seit Ewigkeiten eine klare 6*. Mit unter einer seiner Perlen.

The Weeknd is op de goede weg om een grote te worden. Weer een puike plaat.

Waar ik platen als 'Often', 'Earned It' en 'Can't Feel My Face' best goed te doen vind, irriteert deze 'The Hills' mij wezenloos. Die ergerlijke zoem/brom die uitbreekt in het refrein maakt het geheel er niet bepaald beter op. 'Can't Feel My Face' is al op weg een hit te worden en dat vind ik prima zo; dit hoeft er wat mij betreft niet bij te komen.

An sich ein cooler Track, welcher vielleicht sogar die Höchstnote erreicht hätte aber diese verzerrte Stimme gefällt mir überhaupt nicht und ich verstehe nicht, warum man seine glasklare Stimme überhaupt verzerren muss!?

Hie und da ist mir auch die Produktion etwas zu grob ausgefallen. Sonst toller Track, für welchen ich, dank The Weeknd's hammer Stimme gerne aufgerundete 4.5* vergebe.

Edit: Mittlerweile muss ich tatsächlich die Höchstnote vergeben. Hätte ich so nie erwartet aber plötzlich finde ich an diesen harten Beat gefallen. Toller Track und hoffentlich tolles Album! 6*

I agree with the solid production which entails this track.

Amongst my favourites from 'Beauty Behind The Madness'.

4 --> 5 --> 6

Not really feeling much here tbh.

Die internationalen Chartpeaks sprechen nicht dafür (nur in UK Top-30), dafür überraschend gut.

gut

Zumindest hat's hier eine halbwegs erkennbare Melodie. Ansonsten langweilt dieser Song jedoch leider nur.

...ist mir zu düster...

dito kamala. knappe 4

...gut...

Nicht das, was ich von The Weeknd erwarten würde, aber der düstere Sound hat schon was. Eine 5 habe ich dafür aber nicht übrig.

Regular

Ik heb dit nummer op Instagram als achtergrondmuziek op de zogenaamde hype ''don't judge me challenge'' voorbij zien komen, maar ik wist totaal niet hoe dit nummer heet, laat staan de zanger. Maar wat blijkt? Die ene gozer met dat rare kapsel (weet de benaming er niet voor, maar het heeft iets weg van een palmboom) die meezong op Ariana Grande's grote hit ''Love Me Harder (toen ik nog voor geen meter wist wie die ene The Weeknd is) is degene die dit zingt. Het blijkt een megahit te zijn in de Verenigde Staten en zo te zien laat The Weeknd ook hier in Nederland zijn tanden zien, en niet alleen met ''I Can't Feel My Face''! Na de samenwerking met miss Grande bewijst deze gozer dat hij ook solo kan scoren, wat een redelijke prestatie is.

Over het nummer: het is naar mijn mening een goed en catchy nummer, wel weer wat anders. Het moest wel wennen. Vooral het refrein spreekt me aan. Het nummer zit ook goed in elkaar. Vier sterren.

Weiterhin einerseits schwer zugänglich, andererseits auch faszinierend. Keine 0815-Musik.

15.04.2016: Jetzt fasziniert er mich.

Geht ganz gut ab. Taucht auch auf der Single-CD "Can`t feel my Face" auf.

gefällt mir nicht besonders

absolute bombe. abel tötet es. remix mit eminem ist ebenfalls ganz gross, unglaublich dynamisch.

schwach

Every now and then you hear a song being played too much that isn't really in your favour. This is that song of the moment. In short, this is too crude for my liking for such extensive overplay.

puhh. moderner möchtegern.....

Nichts Weltbewegendes natürlich, aber auch alles andere als belanglos.

Lasziv und schwül ... # 1 in den USA und daheim in Kanada.

Sehr mühsam. Hier ist mir der verzerrte Bass viel zu penetrant, und das Ganze hat keinen Saft. "Can't Feel My Face" ist viel besser.

Hatte den Song nun schon länger in meiner Playlist, dauerte recht lange, bis ich den endlich im Ohr hatte. Gefällt mir aber je länger desto besser, wobei man vom Text wohl glücklicherweise nicht viel versteht. Abgerundete 4.

Multitude of things that suck when an artist you like reaches a new-found level of popularity:

1. The phrase 'knew them before/when they were cool' is so done-to-death and interpolated that there's no way of genuinely acknowledging the fact without being made out as a jerk.
2. First impressions last, and not much hurts quite as much as hearing someone dismiss an artist when they've not heard the full breadth of what they have to offer. Even worse is when you're held in contempt for identifying as a fan because the artist will now be first identified by the popular stuff so that's the stuff you like.
3. As a fan of the artist, it so commonly rings true that the reason they become popular is because they've managed to dilute their sound to fit in, taking away what made you like them in the first place. This makes the 2nd item even more frustrating.

On item 1, one thing that rarely gets enough attention is how much that phrase is really just a well-earned victory lap. Because to support an unknown artist is to go against the crowd. It is to potentially cop ridicule for your unpopular choice. It is to have to accept (for the time being) that the artist you like is never going to be part of the conversation. Heck, I fashioned part of my username on social media after a song by an artist I like. It had to be that artist because even if they're not my favourite artist, they stand out so egregiously for being so much less popular than other artists I like just as much. Perhaps most annoying is the fact that no one really wants to change the current state, which manifests itself in a lot of 'hmm nah's when you try to spread the word about the artist.

Really nobody wins in these cases. Because for the person who was initially dismissive, should they remember when that was the case, they have to find a way to get through the inevitable conversation underlying why they were sleeping on them in the first place, or if desperate enough, pretend they were never in the wrong just to save their own skin.

The main thing to take away from this is to not just like something because it's popular. The moment you do that, you are instantly, relatively not liking something because it's not popular. And of course, it's the combined force of all these stalwarts that does nothing but prevent new voices from breaking through.

Anyway hardly any of this applies to The Weeknd. Dude had Drake backing him from the very start, if anything he could have less help. I just use him as an example to try and articulate the weirdness of being a fan since "House of Balloons" and then seeing him knock himself off the top of the Billboard Hot 100. More importantly though, The Weeknd being popular means that by saying this here, more people will likely read it lol.

So while the first point doesn't apply, the other two certainly do. Because really The Weeknd was in a sweet spot in the middle, where he was popular enough that he could make a splash through playing his cards right because he had the support, but he wasn't popular enough to stop him from reaching the ears of people who really don't get his whole vibe and the context to it. My exasperation at his success isn't just as a whiplash sort of thing, it's because the music he was making just was not suited to mainstream acceptance. I mean, he made dark, twisted R&B songs about drugs & sex and didn't at all paint them in a pleasant way. It's a shtick he's stuck with from the very beginning. The character he plays isn't pleasant either, which is important to note because it would be near indefencible if played straight.

This can all apply to "The Hills" funnily enough. Because contrary to the idea that an artist can only become popular by watering down their edges, this smash hit is so akin to his music of old that it amazes me. Granted, it's a bit higher budget than before, but the fact that something like this can be the most heard song on US radio for an entire month amazes me. Heck, a third of the songs that went to #1 on the US radio chart in 2015 were by The Weeknd.

While better than his last project, I'm not totally sure "Beauty Behind The Madness" really makes the grade, but this is undoubtedly a highlight on it. One that I was initially weary of due to the high pitched vocals & heavy bass in the chorus not really feeling like they mixed well at all, but it slowly sunk in with me. It's a serious earworm that accomplishes that while sounding quite unlike anything else, meaning you have to give it attention.

In short, I'm happy for him, I love this track, and more people should listen to his 2011 stuff.

kan er mee door

Gibt zwar schlechteres, aber verspüre nicht das Verlangen die Nummer ab und an mal wieder zu hören!

Heute sehe ich das ein wenig anders, eine 4 ist der Song mindestens wert!

Not a mainstream pop. Like It.

Starkes, mitreißendes Stück.

Waardeloos

Vind het nu wel meevallen.

Weniger...

nicht so mein fall...

Huge track with excellent production. I love the third verse as well. Definitely one that has grown on me over time. 4.5.

Always found this better than 'I Can't Feel My Face'. Nicki Minaj remix is pretty cool too.

My favorive song!

Peaked at #2 on my personal chart.

Came in at #25 on my TOP 100 OF 2015.

P=112

knapp aufgerundete 3

CDN: #1 (1 week), 2015
USA: #1 (6 weeks), 2015

mäßig, nichts für mich

mag ich

Daumen nach unten

.

Everything from the boosted bass in the instrumental to the lyrics that are delivered from him is absolutely flawless. This feels like such a scary song and messed up but I love The Hills for that!

Agree with review above, quite an hypnotic song from him. UK#3 and Ireland#4.

Habe ich damals oft gehört - heutzutage nur noch ab und zu.