Dawn FM Review

The Weeknd’s 5th studio album, ‘Dawn FM’, dropped on January 6th, 2022. It had been surrounded with anticipation given knowone knew where The Weeknd would go with his new sound. Would he keep going towards the synth pop route, or would he go back to his old sound that had less intricate beats and a strong reliance on his vocals. 

The project has 16 songs and is a total of 51 minutes long. The album includes features from Tyler, The Creator and Lil Wayne.

The opening track sets the mood for the album, including a radio show intro to set the 80’s tone he is aiming for.

My initial thoughts of the album was that they were songs that were recycled from his last album ‘After Hours’. Being an old fan of The Weeknd I had to open my mind to his new sound as I liked the old sound and the more I listened to it the more I enjoyed it.

Listening to the album felt like I was listening to a continuation of After Hours, specifically ‘Blinding Lights’. 

The Tyler, The Creator feature delivers in the beginning, but the more I listened, the more disappointed I got. I really wanted to see these two have a great song together, but it is lackluster and feels cut short. I like the Lil Wayne feature on ‘I Heard You’re Married;’ it completes the song and saves it from being boring. 

My top tracks are ‘Gasoline’, ‘Out of Time’, and ‘I Heard You’re Married’. My least favorite track is ‘Best Friends’, I don’t like the beat or how it is louder than the vocals.

Overall, it is an above average album with some hidden gems and fun songs. I do think that his earlier albums like ‘Trilogy’ and ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ are better and I expected more to come from this recent project, but I do find myself going back to the songs that made it onto my playlist.