Beauty Behind the Madness

2015

Beauty Behind the Madness found the Weeknd at a crossroads. He’d made his bones as a bleak belter, so by his second album, there were commercial expectations to be met. He conquered the mainstream, giving us “The Hills” and the ubiquitous “Earned It,” which registers like some brooding valentine. “Tell Your Friends” is an essential deep cut — Kanye West’s cinematic soul sample gives

some depth to the Weekend’s debauchery. Meanwhile, “Can’t Feel My Face” channeled peak Michael Jackson for a sweeping paean to the addictive properties of a head-overheels affair. These were highs we didn’t want to recover from.