Daft Punk, have an uncanny talent for mixing and matching vocal tones and their synthetic music as is evident on Starboy and I Feel It Coming. The titular lead track serves as an example of a good balance of disco and RnB, especially with the menacing drums looping in the background, transforming the Weeknd’s take on the excesses of life to highs rather than lows.

With RnB at its centre, pop, disco, funk, and a little bit of rock are sprinkled in to highlight what each one of these artists bring to Starboy. The Weeknd’s themes though still the same – drugs, cars, women, misogyny, sadness, and love – deviate from their dark RnB roots to radio friendly pop right from the start, and it’s a refreshing direction to take, now that people have noticed him.Įveryone from Max Martin, Diplo, Cashmere Cat, Daft Punk, Cirkut, Benny Blanco, Labrinth and the likes of collaborators like Future, Kendrick Lamar, and Lana Del Rey feature on some of the best tracks on the album. In preparation for The Weeknd’s release of Starboy, I decided it’d be the best time to refresh my memory of RnB that didn’t involve Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston.Īfter soaking in some R Kelly, and more recent acts like Angel and Kalin White, who are just as good as the Weeknd, especially in the broader sense of the RnB genre, Starboy dropped just in time with a few surprises.

The weeknd starboy album