Music Reviews

On “After Hours,” The Weeknd‘s Toxicity Becomes Tiresome

The crooners first album in four years sounds great, but his lack of remorse is becoming a concern

The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (Official Video)

In the 2012 visual for "Rolling Stone," Abel Tesfaye, otherwise known as enigmatic R&B crooner The Weeknd, presented his fans with a symbolic interpretation of an existential crisis he faced as a budding superstar.

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Short film for Eternal Atake "BabyPluto" 🌟🛸

One of the most colossal music releases of our lifetime has finally arrived.

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After two years of teasers, delays, and a brief musical hiatus, Lil Uzi Vert kicked the Eternal Atake press run into full gear these past few weeks, spontaneously releasing a new single, short film, and the album track list all with very little warning. Leading up to one of the most highly anticipated releases of the past two years, Uzi fans became convinced that Eternal Atake would never see the light of day after a GQ expose with the rapper mentioned that he was fully pivoting into fashion. "The music is whatever, bro. I really do it just to make my family happy," he said. His family must be happy then, because the reception for Eternal Atake has already been stellar, and Uzi has finally fed his fans what they've been drooling over for years.

Check out the album below:

Eternal Atake

MUSIC

The Sexiest Album Covers of All Time

This is by no mean a definitive list, but these albums are worth revisiting

In the last few years, Vinyl has experienced a massive resurgence.

It accounted for 9.7 million album sales in 2018, thanks, begrudgingly, to what NPR called the "Hipsterfication of America." While the sales can mainly be attributed to classics like Michael Jackson's Thriller and The Beatles' Abbey Road, it seems fitting to pay homage to the records that gave us Millennial's a "thunder down under" and kickstarted our sexual awakenings.

The racy nature of the album covers below sparked cultural phenomenons. Let's dive into the birth of the "Parental Warning" and revisit the album that turned whipped cream from a mere dessert topping into something much more. These are some of the most risque records in history.

Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" (1965)

Arguably one of the most famous album covers of all time, Whipped Cream & International Delights would go on to bring notoriety to model Dolores Erickson, who achieved fame as "the whipped cream" lady. "They stared at it constantly. It was very risque," Erickson said of the cover. "They hadn't seen this much breast in their life." The album has sold over 6 million copies and was the band's most popular release to date.

Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber - bad guy

Justin Bieber has remixed Billie Eilish's hit "Bad Guy," adding his disorientingly high-pitched vocals to the 17-year-old's slightly terrifying bop.

This seems like a clear attempt on Eilish's part to skyrocket her most popular song to the top of the charts, and it just may work. Unfortunately, Bieber's voice is sexy, even though you kind of wish he had stopped singing around 2012 because watching his innocence fade slowly over time felt like a crushing blow on top of our own coming-of-age angst; also, the fact that Eilish was a superfan and now they're collaborating is pretty satisfying for any former Belieber. This version is actually better than the original, maybe because you can feel both singers' egos leaking through the sound, saturating you with a creepy, glossy feeling that reeks of money and child-star nihilism.

In many ways, "Bad Guy" is the perfect song for Bieber right now. He's been the subject of a great deal of criticism for being, well, a bad guy—from collaborating with abuser Chr*s Br**n to defending Scooter Braun against Taylor Swift's tearful accusations to being slammed by Emma Portner, a former choreographer who argued that he was a sexist asshole who paid his staff next to nothing. This song feels like Bieber throwing up his arms and shouting, "Well, f**k it, I guess I am a terrible person, but you're still going to buy my music and listen to my songs, because part of you also feels like you're a terrible person, and there's something cathartic about listening to someone else fully own their sh**tiness." Well, maybe not the last part—he may well also be thinking, "This is all in the name of Jesus."

Still, in this world where climate change is literally preparing to decimate us all and most of us are doing nothing, it's not hard to feel like a terrible person. At least when New York City goes under, we'll have Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber to bop along to until the waves go over our heads.

Billie Eilish - bad guy (with Justin Bieber) [Audio]www.youtube.com