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Here at Decoded Cast, we believe in expressing all our creativity to its fullest. This is why we have multiple shows ranging from heavy-hitting controversial (Lifecast) all the way to weekly celebrations of new films (Decoded Movie Reviews). We guarantee you will find a show you enjoy and end up surprised at what else catches your eye.
Hello and welcome back to Decoded and wow has it been a busy January for all of us here on the Youtube and website. I wanted to start this update by thanking each and everyone one of you for your continued support the Youtube has reached well over 1,000 subscribers and we could not be more ecstatic at the response this community has given. If you have not done so already you of course can subscribe to this blog to get the updates a day or so after they release on Youtube or soundcloud. The easiest way though will be clicking here and pressing subscribe on the Youtube page to never miss an upload the moment it happens.
Now for the big news, We have officially been accepted and are on iTunes now! That's right if you have an apple device just go into the iTunes store and under search enter the term "decoded podcast" and this image will appear for you to subscribe or simply listen all our whacky antics. This is of course in response to those of you wanting a way to easily access the 'Decoded Podcast' while out and about without having to keep the Youtube app open so be sure to subscribe as we're testing out which day would be best to release the episodes. If you have an ideas be sure to leave them in the comment section below as it truly helps us.
On the podcast though we've been going hard from our reaction to the Suicide Squad trailer, to a visit from Kaitlin Barth down in Australia, all the way to the largest cast of people in an episode, January has certainly been an amazing month and we cannot wait to show you what February has to offer!
If you have any topics for Independent Closet, Decoded Podcast, or Decoded reviews be sure to leave them in the comments section and we'll throw them in as soon as possible
DISCLAIMER: This time I'm trying something a bit different so let me know what you think. I will attach the video for those who are interested first THEN have the review laid out in text as in the good old days for those that prefer it.
Video Review
Hello and welcome back to Decoded where we take your favorite content across all media, break them down piece by piece, and see what’s left standing. I’m Keith Legion and let’s get started with today’s review of The Weeknd’s 2015 blockbuster album, “Beauty Behind the Madness.” HISTORY: Born February 16, 1990 in Toronto, Canada The Weeknd’s legal name is… oh lord I’m going to butcher this… Abel Makkonen Tesfaye. Abel adopted the moniker The Weeknd after dropping out of high school at the age of 17 where he and a crew-member “left one weekend and never came home.” Due to a Canadian band already having the trademark for the proper spelling, Abel needed to modify it so as to avoid legal issues. Abel eventually met up with producer Jeremy Rose who created the first working rough drafts of the songs, “What You Need,” “Loft Music,” and “The Morning.” The project was inevitably scrapped once Jeremy rose walked away from the project but allowed Abel to keep the produced tracks under the condition proper credit was given. Abel then uploaded these songs to Youtube under his moniker The Weeknd which created quite the word of mouth buzz eventually reaching a blog that also prominently featured Drake’s songs.
In the timeframe of one year Abel would go onto release not 1 but 3 individual EPS titled House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence which received critical acclaim and grew Abel’s fanbase exponentially. Abel would eventually go on to put all of these EPS together, remaster them, and release Trilogy on November 13th, 2012 which was certified platinum on May 16th, 2013 by the Recording Industry Association of America. Abel would follow this up by touring extensively over the next year and eventually squeezing in time for his first official mainstream album titled Kiss Land. Kiss Land was released on Sept 10th, 2013 and received mostly favorable reviews from critics debuting number 2 on the Billboard 200 being defeated by Keith Urban’s “Fuse” by a mere 95,000 copies. With one massively successful trilogy of EPS and a positive first mainstream release the stakes were set pretty high for 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness. So the question remains how does the sophomore follow-up compare?
The SINGLES: Often: A pretty solid intro to The Weeknd and single for the album. The single starts with something you will see across all of The Weeknd’s work. One a lot of reverb. These songs have an air about that screams mystery and distance while the other trope is The Weeknd’s random usage of Ooh’s in his songs to establish the melody. I would not take either of these as a heavy criticism against the tropes though as these staples are probably why his songs are so entrancing and enticing. Now the song itself is pretty straight forward. The first verse has a message very reminiscent of the titular track “Kiss Land” from his first major release. The echoes here are that the girls will not be sneaking pictures and if what they’re looking for is something deeper than sex or no sex at all they should get going. It’s another recurring theme in The Weeknd’s song catalog but here he references the innocence of “good girl” wanting to get with him but naively asking if he does this “Often.” All in all a solid SAFE song off the album.
The Hills:
Now when I started listening to this album this track was one I had surprisingly not been bombarded by and the only way I truly knew it was anything special was when I was out visiting my big brother and under ‘bangers’ on his DJ setlist was this song. I’d actually probably have to agree with that sentiment of the song. Unlike a majority of the songs on the album such as “Can’t Feel My Face ” this song doesn’t start out distant and soft, from the get-go it is intense and a bit primal better so then the Kanye West produced “Tell Your Friends.” The song of course does back off a bit in the verse to allow for a dynamic dichotomy between verses and chorus. He almost murmurs the verses like he’s in a very drugged up state before launching in full-throttle in the opening line of the chorus. It works very well as even though it is a slow song from a music standpoint it feels very intimate and a must-buy for any music fan.
The Rest of the Album... Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey):
Why is this song on this album? Honestly, on Spotify it evens uses the 50 Shades of Grey artwork instead of the official Beauty Behind The Madness artwork, so can someone please explain why it’s here? It must be because 50 shades of Grey was such a success that they banked on people wanting to buy the song twice but I’ll be honest this song is a dark mark on the album. In Songs such as Acquainted the only issue is a pretty generic backdrop for The Weeknd and the unnecessarily long ending that just goes on and on. But this song….. Let’s break it down.
Unlike The Hills it starts with a slow string section and basic beat holding the backdrop before The Weeknd starts singing what obviously sounds like a forced boqring verse. Yes there are a few fluctuations in his vocal delivery but take an honest listen and tell me this does not sound like the first time Abel is phoning in it. Then the super high pitch pre-choruses are a bit too airy and upfront to truly enjoy as if this isn’t a true The Weeknd song. Then we get to the chorus and guess what? Nothing changes except for a distant piano melody and an ending punctuation from the strings. This is a lazy song and you should avoid it at all costs.
Favorite Song: In The Night and Shameless: While I usually do one song as a favorite in these reviews I would like to throw out an honorable mention to “In The Night.” This song is the better of the Michael Jackson sounding tracks from the album, I’m looking at you “Can’t Feel My Face.” There’s just this liveliness and tour de force coming from the Weeknd through the whole song. From the opening lines to the chorus to the closing lines this song will get caught in your head near instantly if you give it a true listen.
Moving forward, let’s discuss Shameless…. I’m going to jump ahead before we talk about the full song. THAT SOLO IS AMAZING… I was not expecting such an awesome accompanying solo from any instrumentation on this album and then the electric guitar (or electric synth that has been mixed/crafted expertly) comes in and it’s game over this song wins the album for me. Now in terms of the rest of the song this is a very deep song in terms of the overarching main theme that is Abel Tesafaye. The whole song is about a girl breaking down after stating she does not want to be trapped in a loveless sex fest but now wants him back as he’s better than nothing. Abel uses this to strokes his ever-inflating ego in this song and shows his sociopathic tendencies as he berates the girl for being the cause of her own pain. Abel has promised her nothing but sex and no emotion which he has given in spades, any pain she is feeling is of her own accord for expecting more. The title is in reference to how he refuses to feel bad about any situations he has concocted as it’s not his problem but he will always be there for her if she wants what he does. It’s a brilliant character study and honestly a brave song for anyone to release as it does not paint him in any great light. In all, The Weeknd delivers yet another stellar album, peeling back just enough layers to not make this album seem old and tired but also keeping around the tropes that made him famous in the first place. While I would not say this is risky at this point in his career I feel that he may have only one more album like this before fans are clamouring for more from this new superstar. In all I give The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind The Madness” the rating of ‘Buy It’
Buy It: Real Life, Losers, The Hills, Shameless, In The Night Hear It: Tell Your Friends, Often, Acquainted, Can’t Feel My Face, Dark Times, Prisoner, Angel Trash It: Acquainted, Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey), As You Are Buy It
Hey Everyone, with the year wrapping up I just wanted to offer a big thank you to all of you that have supported this show since it's inception. I know the updates can come pretty infrequently (sometimes 6-9 months between them) but I cannot thank you enough for those of that have continued to request my opinion on music and other sources of media. While this started simply as a place for me to escape and vent out life in the aftermath of a tragedy, it has grown into something I'm truly proud to be apart of.
I wanted to go ahead and let you all know that more updates are going to be happen into the next year as we have officially launched the Decoded Podcast which should hopefully help hold people over in between reviews as my commitment is quality over quantity for all of you. It is due to this that I would also like to make you aware I am removing the numbering system of reviews as I feel a number does not fully encapsulate what a piece of media represents. Your 7 is different from my 7 which is different than another site's 7 so from here on out, unless I feel compelled by some unknown force, I will be breaking it down into the following:
-Love it/Memorize it: Pretty self explanatory, it's a piece of media that deserves multiple listens/watches/plays as you can gather a new piece of insight each time. Would be my highest honor.
-Buy it: Pretty cut and dry as well. Many of you may be familiar with this term as I use it for the stand-out track on the album and will continue to do so in the future. (remember the tri-break down is only for major releases, Independent Closet showcase does a different breakdown)
-Hear it/Watch It: More of the middle-ground, a piece of content that should be experienced by those who are intrigued by the given premise, singles, or even artwork.
Burn it: This goes to the content that is so insulting that it frustrates you to every piece of your core (Temper, Temper anyone?). Resigned for those pieces of media that either offend from a prior interaction or simply do not care enough to try.
Ignore it: The lowest rating I can give. This rating is for something so bad one cannot even muscle up the strength to hate it, one should simply act like it never existed and the world will be a better place.
So yea that's what we're looking at for the ongoing future. I'm hoping to have my next Decoded Episode up either on the 31st of December or the first Thursday of the new year depending upon holiday and life. Once again, I'd like to thank you all for being apart of this and we're just getting started. This is Keith Legion, signing out.
