The Weeknd
The Weeknd To Drop ‘the Dawn FM Experience’ Special on Amazon Prime Video
The Weeknd’s Dawn FM experience isn’t over. The hype behind the Canadian artist’s fifth studio album is still here, and it just moved to the television screen.
Abel took it to Twitter to announce that the Dawn FM Experience will show on Amazon Prime. In a tweet, the Weeknd said, “next phase has begun… Dawn FM Experience premieres February 26 on @PrimeVideo.”
According to a press release, The Dawn FM Experience will also stream as “an eight-track live EP” exclusively on Amazon Music, and An exclusive merch capsule will launch at 12 noon PST/3 p.m. EST on the Amazon Music Artist Merch Shop the day before the premiere of the airing.
“I’m ecstatic to partner with Amazon to premiere the most elaborate live TV special I’ve ever done,” the Weeknd said in the press release. “Welcome to the next phase of Dawn FM—a purgatory otherworld where live performance, theater, and performance art collide for a night out at the club.”
The Weeknd created the Dawn FM Experience with the help of La Mar C. Taylor and Micah Bickham, who also directed the special.
The Weeknd also shared a tweet revealing his new t.v special trial.
The Weeknd released Dawn FM on January 7, and the album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The album also featured Tyler, the Creator, and Lil Wayne, as well as narration from Jim Carrey, which came out in early January and quickly propelled him atop Spotify’s most-streamed artists of 2022 list after earning 705 million streams in just the first two weeks of the year. He also set a new Billboard record by having the most charting songs (24) on the Global 200 chart for a solo male performer in a single week.
The Weeknd has given us a glimpse of his acting skills since his last album, After Hours. He also did it with Dawn FM. On February 26, fans will finally get a chance to see him in real action.
The post The Weeknd To Drop ‘the Dawn FM Experience’ Special on Amazon Prime Video appeared first on The Source.
Drake Delivered A Heartfelt Speech At The Weeknd’s 32nd Birthday Party In Las Vegas
There once was a time when Drake and The Weekend didn’t appear to be on good terms. Two of the biggest stars from Toronto, Drake brought The Weeknd along into his OVOXO collective over a decade ago. While Drake effectively silenced any talk of a beef with his freestyle in the late-2019 track “War,” we got a pretty good idea of where they stand after Drake’s heartfelt toast at The Weeknd’s 32nd birthday party this past weekend in Las Vegas.
“I was there from day one and I’m grateful not only to be here with my brothers but just grateful that the family is back together where we belong from the greatest city in the world,” Drake said, in a moment DJ Akademiks shared on Instagram.
There were a lot of other moments captured at the party, including a clip of The Weeknd grabbing a mic to sing a long to “Get Busy” by surging Portland rapper Yeat. Also, what’s a party in Vegas without gambling? Future was in the mix as well and he ceased the moment to spark a blunt while playing blackjack with The Weeknd.
.@1future x @theweeknd
pic.twitter.com/lOvZSRqlcQ
— 𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙾 𝙼𝙾𝚁𝙸 𝚇𝙾
(@MementoMoriXO) February 20, 2022
Following the birthday celebration, The Weeknd announced earlier today that a live TV special entitled The Weeknd x The Dawn FM Experience will be coming to Amazon Prime Video this Friday, February 26th.
The Weeknd Announces A Music Special On Amazon, ‘The Weeknd x The Dawn FM Experience’
The Weeknd is already having a big year after releasing his sixth album Dawn FM. Last month, he achieved the most monthly listeners on Spotify, surpassing Justin Bieber who held that spot since last spring. The star is now teaming up with Amazon for a music special titled The Weeknd x The Dawn FM Experience, which will premiere exclusively through Prime Video this Saturday, February 26.
“I’m ecstatic to partner with Amazon to premiere the most elaborate live TV special I’ve ever done,” The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) said in a statement. “Welcome to the next phase of Dawn FM — a purgatory otherworld where live performance, theater, and performance art collide for a night out at the club.”
The official teaser is out now, and it centers on the strange, older version of Tesfaye who we’ve been seeing on the album cover and in music videos. Tesfaye has suggested that Dawn FM is part of a new trilogy, following the trilogy of House Of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes Of Silence that launched his career. Maybe this new special will provide context to this complicated world that Tesfaye seems to be building.
Watch the teaser for The Weeknd x The Dawn FM Experience above.
The Weeknd Shares A Heartwarming Birthday Text From His Parents
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, better known to most as The Weeknd, was born on February 16, 1990, making today his 32nd birthday. Late last night, The Weeknd shared was must have been one of the first birthday messages he received, a sweet text from his parents.
The text, sent from his mother’s phone but addressed from both of his parents, reads, “February 16 @ 2:45 pm the Star is born Happy Birthday Abel. Enkuan tewoldek [heart emoji] [folded hands emoji] [cake emoji] [champagne glasses emoji] [champagne bottle emoji]. egzaiber ymesgn [folded hands emojis]. You are our hero God bless you and your work with much Love. Always yours proud parents [heart emojis].”
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) February 16, 2022
The Weeknd’s folks aren’t the only ones who took notice of his big day, as he’s currently a trending topic on Twitter as fans wish him a happy birthday.
At the young age of 32, The Weeknd has accomplished a ton in his life. He has three No. 1 albums to his name in the US, while his LPs that didn’t top the chart — Kiss Land and Dawn FM — peaked at No. 2. His 2018 EP My Dear Melancholy also went No. 1. Additionally, he has a handful of chart-topping singles, the latest of them being 2020’s “Save Your Tears.” He also has the most monthly listeners on Spotify, a throne he claimed from Justin Bieber in January. “Blinding Lights” is also the second-most-streamed song in the history of the platform and will likely follow Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” to become the second song to ever hit 3 billion Spotify streams.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Disney’s ‘Encanto’ Album Becomes The First Soundtrack To Spend Multiple Weeks At No. 1 Since 2018
Encanto is Disney’s latest successful film. It recently won the Best Motion Picture – Animated award at this month’s Golden Globe Awards where it was also nominated for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. The soundtrack for the film has also been successful. A little over a month since its release back in November, the soundtrack for Encanto checked in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 72,000 album units sold on the chart dated January 15. In claiming the top spot, Encanto dethroned Adele’s 30 after it spent six straight weeks at No. 1 Just a couple of weeks later, Encanto makes its way back to No. 1.
On the Billboard 200 chart dated January 29, the Encanto soundtrack returns to No. 1 thanks to 104,000 album units sold this past week. This number is comprised of 84,000 streaming equivalent album units thanks to 125.33 million on-demand official streams of the soundtrack’s songs. Pure album sales accounted for 17,000 of the soundtrack’s sales total this week. With its return to No. 1, Encanto becomes the first soundtrack since Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born to spend multiple weeks atop the charts. That project spent four non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2018 and 2019.
Encanto is also the first soundtrack by Disney to spend multiple weeks at No. 1 since Frozen did so back in 2014. The Frozen soundtrack appeared atop the albums charts for 13 nonconsecutive weeks that year.
Elsewhere on this week’s Billboard 200 chart, Gunna’s DS4EVER checks in at No. 2 while The Weeknd’s Dawn FM arrives at No. 3.
Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Weeknd Surpasses Justin Bieber For The Most Monthly Listeners On Spotify
The Weeknd began the year by releasing his sixth album Dawn FM, which the singer teased and promoted for more than six months. The album gave fans not only 16 songs but also contributions from Jim Carrey, Lil Wayne, Tyler The Creator, Quincy Jones, and Oneohtrix Point Never. Despite the hype behind it, Dawn FM failed to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as it was beaten by Gunna’s DS4EVER, which outsold it by just 2,300 copies.
Despite this, The Weeknd did accomplish something big: He recently passed Justin Bieber as the musician with the most listeners on Spotify. A press release revealed that The Weeknd has 85,667,564 monthly listeners on the app, giving him the most for any artist at the moment. It stops a streak that Bieber has held since last spring. Regardless, Bieber still holds the title for the most listeners at any point in Spotify history, after he became the first artist in the platform’s history to have more than 90 million monthly listeners.
Recently The Weeknd released videos for “Gasoline” and “Sacrifice” from Dawn FM. He also shared two new “alternate world” versions of songs from Dawn FM.
Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Neve Campbell Was Confused When Told About The Weeknd Shouting Her Out: ‘Which Weekend, Last Weekend?’
It has been speculated that on The Weeknd’s new album Dawn FM, he sings about his reported relationship with Angelina Jolie on “Here We Go… Again.” While that’s all just hearsay at this point, what’s not a rumor is that he name-drops Scream actress Neve Campbell on the tune, as he sings, “My new girl, she a movie star / I loved her right, make her scream like Neve Campbell.” When Campbell first caught wind of the shout-out, though, she didn’t exactly know what was going on.
Campbell stopped by The Late Late Show earlier this week and James Corden asked her about the Dawn FM mention. After saying it’s “pretty crazy,” she continued, “At first, my publicist told me and she was like, ‘The Weeknd.’ I said, ‘Wait, which weekend, last weekend?’ I had no idea what she was talking about. Then I realized, ‘Oh, the guy who played at the Super Bowl, that guy!’”
Corden responded, “I can only think he’ll be really disappointed if he knows that you described him as the guy from the Super Bowl, given he’s arguably one of the biggest and best-selling artists of his generation.” Through laughter, Campbell said, “I know, I know! I’m just so bad with pop culture.”
Check out the interview clip above and listen to “Here We Go… Again” below.
Kelly Clarkson Turns In A Rock-Forward Cover Of The Weeknd’s ‘Take My Breath’
While Kelly Clarkson came to fame through her music, over the past few years, she has carved out a space for herself on TV on shows like The Voice and her own The Kelly Clarkson Show. She hasn’t left music behind, though. Obviously, The Voice is a music-focused program, and her show regularly features a “Kellyoke” segment, in which she busts out a cover of a popular song. This has yielded some strong performances over the past couple years and today brings another one with Clarkson covering The Weeknd’s recent Dawn FM single “Take My Breath.”
Right away, Clarkson and her band set this rendition of the song apart from the original by putting a more rock-leaning guitar riff front and center. They keep those vibes up throughout the song while also working some of the track’s recognizable synth sounds into the mix.
Meanwhile, also on today’s show, Clarkson spoke with Alana Haim and the conversation turned towards them discussing the times they’ve split their pants while performing.
The Weeknd’s music has become a bit of a staple of the “Kellyoke” series, as Clarkson covered “Can’t Feel My Face” in 2019 and sang “Call Out My Name” a few months ago. Meanwhile, The Weeknd is certainly aware of Clarkson, as he name-dropped her with a reference to The 40-Year-Old Virgin on his 2009 song “Birthday Suit,” singing, “Girl, you already know the best damn part is / Get you on your back, wax you like Kelly Clarkson.”
Watch Clarkson sing “Take My Breath” above.