Dawn FM

Dawn FM-The Weeknd

by Sonya-Shenya Vakulenko

The album for 2022 is The Weeknd’s album: Dawn FM. In interviews, Tesfaye has said that the album plays like listening to a kind of adult contemporary radio station as you sit in a traffic jam in the tunnel, only the tunnel is purgatory and the light at the end of the tunnel is death.The idea and transitions were what initially caught my attention when I listened to it. Further emphasizing the purgatory concept—being stuck in a tunnel, repeating the same events while seeking new meaning—and even the seemingly never-ending history of Covid—which has left our entire world feeling as though it is stuck in some sort of purgatory since 2020—are the way the album's last track could have easily been the album's opening track and the way the bird sounds at the end seamlessly transition into the bird sounds at the beginning.

Abel has an amazing mind. The concept of the single radio station in purgatory is brilliantly done, down to the idea that it can only play music for a certain amount of time before looping back onto itself and starting over, and that the beginning and end blend into each other so that it's difficult to even tell where you are in the progression.However, on my second listen, I was truly engrossed in the entire aural realm, as he described it in the teaser. His words, which range from openly embracing his vices and showing little care for others to desiring love and healing to something like innerlike to inner rebirth and acceptance, are accompanied with a pleasant and calming voice. I've heard that being married differs from the weeknight singing sacrifice, yet the weeknd singing doesn't crush my heart. Above all, though, the music is simply amazing.

While I thought that occasionally the afterhours content was a touch jumbled, Dawn FM's acoustically consistent output creates a smooth listening experience. Sonically speaking, I think he really nails the feeling of the "wee hours of the morning before dawn," creating a kind of liminal zone for me.The Weeknd committed himself in the wee hours of the morning. He is locked in purgatory, replaying his past choices and trying to move on from his regrets. The radio station describes itself as "the number one station to free your soul," and the DJ adds, "soon you'll be refreshed, free from all trauma, guilt, and shame." I know his songs claim he's a nihilist and there's nothing after this.

Are we going to reach a moment when the Weeknd's soul has been set free, healed, and then reincarnated on the upcoming album? Will the upcoming album ultimately take place in the present era? Will The Weeknd also be leaving? Will he finally be released from all that has plagued him for so long, and will he reincarnate as Abel Tesfaye?