INTRODUCTION

So, an essential TL;DR is this: Abel Tesfaye came from a broken home, he
was born to Ethiopian immigrant parents who split up when Tesfaye was
less than seven. He then lived with his mother and grandmother, only
rarely seeing his father but having a nice impression of him. His drug
addiction started as soon as he was a high schooler, he turned to
shoplifting to pay for this need of various substances. Soon he dropped
out of high school, leaving his home the same weekend, which would later
inspire his stage name, The Weeknd. The name is reference/homage to
the weekend his life changed.

HOUSE OF BALLOONS
One of the most iconic title tracks of all time. House of Balloons is about a
lifestyle of drugs, sex, and partying; all in effort to drown out self-doubt. It
comes from a place of wanting to make it big while doing what you can to
survive, all while pretending everything’s alright. The mixtape describes
various sorts of women, how they’ve had impacted the life of someone
who’s already down on his luck.
Fans often refer to House of Balloons as The Weeknd’s best work. The
mixtape was the first introduction the world got of XO, and it was one hell
of a way to make an impression. It’s personal for the fans and Abel
because it’s the only piece of work known to be based on his life. At the
end of the day he’s a songwriter, with many of his albums he creates
scenarios and world that he likes to explore through the music. But House
of Balloons is known to be based entirely on his life. It remains The
Weeknd’s most critically acclaimed work.
House of Balloons was crafted through the influences of Hip-Hip/Indie-
Rock with the main focus on R&B. Through the genius of Ilangelo, the
record was—and is—mesmerizing capturing the essence of a lifestyle that
The Weeknd described as “anti-everything.”
House of Balloons assisted The Weeknd in gaining the attention of
Republic Records, which would then host The Weeknd’s own label XO.
Though hesitant at first, XO decided to partner with Republic after the co-
founding brothers Monte and Avery Lipman kept coming back to Toronto
solely for The Weeknd.
House of Balloons received three videos, The Knowing, Wicked Games and
Twenty Eight. The Knowing was the very first video The Weeknd made, so
of course it’d be something other-worldly; it essentially reflects the song
itself but in a sci-fi setting. Twenty Eight represents Abel’s life after fame
but also his remorse of letting captivating women into his life.
Fun fact— House of Balloons is an actual place in Toronto, it was where
him and his crew lived after he dropped out of high school. They’d host
parties, call girls, do drugs, and to make it less depressing they’d fill it with
balloons.

THURSDAY
Welcome to the other side. (Life of the Party)
Thursday consists of the same themes as HoB; sex and drugs. But there’s a
twist, he’s in a semi-relationship with this girl Valerie. She’s the only one
on his mind, even though they meet only one day of the week, any
guesses on what day that could be? Through The Weeknd’s phenomenal
voice and the insane production, we’re also presented with this story of a
toxic relationship where Valerie used to have the upper hand but she no
longer does when she falls for The Weeknd.
While Thursday isn’t entirely about the relationship of The Weeknd and
Valerie, it consists of reflections to Abel’s life after the release of House of
Balloons. The song Rolling Stone notably has a double meaning, in which
Abel asks his fans if they’ll stick with him when he gets mainstream appeal
and decides to change his sound.
The track Valerie wasn’t on the original release of Thursday, it added
when Trilogy was released. Ending the mixtape with Heaven or Las Vegas
meant that The Weeknd’s actions with and without Valerie were a result
of his fatherless childhood, making him push anyone away. That meaning
behind Thursday doesn’t change when Valerie is added to the track list, it
just means that both want the toxic relationship back.

The Zone (feat. Drake) was the first feature The Weeknd had on any of his
work, the video for it was released in November of 2012. Rolling Stone
had also received a video in October of 2012. Both were directed by The
Weeknd and reflect the two different aspects of Thursday. The Zone has
Valerie living it up in the House of Balloons. And Rolling Stone has The
Weeknd doing a photoshoot for Trilogy, reflective of the song itself.
ECHOES OF SILENCE
Out of a dark introductory into the early life of The Weeknd, Echoes of
Silence is the darkest work of his Trilogy. Let’s be honest the story here
isn’t entirely ethical at times but makes for one hell of a mixtape.
Similar to Thursday, Echoes of Silence follows a storyline. After
accumulating success, The Weeknd gains the attention of various women.
There was this one woman (D.D.) who he liked but she initially rejected
him (Montreal). The woman came back to him for his fame status and
evidently fell in love with him (Outside), but now that he’s got the upper
hand he treats him like a groupie (XO/The Host) and lets... bad things
happen to her; she’s gotta pass a test before she can get with him. This
test is either drugs or his crew (Initiation). He ultimately tells this woman
that he’s not exactly longterm-relationship material, perhaps because her
love is temporary (Same Old Song), because he’s Next. With the end of
Echoes of Silence (originally ending on the title track) the listener is left to
wonder why The Weeknd left her if he’d simply want her to stay.
As a side note— Initiation should not be condoned. It remains true that
The Weeknd is a songwriter and the progression of time has changed
perspectives. But a song that makes such suggestions as Initiation should
not be ethically/morally claimed or celebrated.
The mixtape follows The Weeknd’s lifestyle after he’s gained all this
success, he’s still the same person but now he’s gotten everything he
wanted. Some tracks such as The Fall continue to emphasize his journey
into stardom and his acceptance of fame being temporary. With the
added Till Dawn (Here Comes The Sun), The Weeknd acknowledges the
changes in his life, realizing that the old lifestyle is no longer there for him
or his past lovers.
Echoes of Silence is known as an underrated gem of The Weeknd’s
discography, it’s well received by fans and critically acclaimed but often
brushed under the rug in discussion of his work. A lot of fans and casual
listeners play the mixtapes through Trilogy rather than their respective
albums. This often leads to people not playing EoS either at all or only the
first few tracks, this is predominantly due to the nature of the compilation
being nearly three hours long.
Fun fact— D.D. is a cover of Michael Jackson’s iconic Dirty Diana. Fans
have named the woman in Echoes of Silence Diana because of this track.
Various theories argue that the mixtape itself is based on the Dirty Diana
itself with exaggerations of the truth, or whether or not it’s a story The
Weeknd crafted based on the song.

TRILOGY
You don’t know what’s in store. (High For This.)
Trilogy is a compilation of The Weeknd’s mixtapes, House of Balloons,
Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. These three mixtapes were released 3-4
months apart from one another for free digital download in 2011, they
gained quite a lot of attention from various industry executives.
Prior to the release of Trilogy, The Weeknd featured on Drake’s Take Care
with Crew Love. The song was Abel’s first exposure to a Rap crowd/Rap
fans, more people began listening to his music after the release of Take
Care. The Weeknd then featured on Wiz Khalifa’s Remember You, which
served as the second single off Wiz Khalifa’s O.N.I.F.C. Following those two
releases, The Weeknd released Wicked Games as the first single off
Trilogy.
Trilogy was formed after The Weeknd came under Republic Records’
management. The compilation album reached a debut/peak position of 4
on the Billboard 200 while reaching number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-
Hop Albums chart. It’s a well received album with the highlight said to be
House of Balloons, which arguably went on to influence various sorts of
R&B music of the 2010s.