The Weeknd
TRILOGY
NOVEMBER 12, 2012
“Blissful genius” The Guardian
Critically revered Canadian artist THE WEEKND, whose 3 mixtapes established the enigmatic virtuoso as one of the most remarkable, intriguing and soulful artists to emerge in decades, releases Trilogy, via XO/Universal Republic/Island Records in the UK, on November 12, 2012. The single Wicked Games will be released the same day. Trilogy, a perfect introduction to the artist’s unique entrancing sound, contains The Weeknd’s universally acclaimed mixtapes, House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, all mixed and mastered for the first time. In addition to the 27 original tracks, both the physical and digital editions will feature new, unreleased material, 3 new songs in total.
The Weeknd’s official YouTube Channel has over 73 million total views (“Wicked Games” has over 11 million alone), 665K Twitter followers (Over 10 Million Twitter impressions in the last 30 days for “Wicked Games”) and 475K Facebook Likes.
Last year, House of Balloons stirred up unparalleled excitement across the blogs and tastemakers, withComplex magazine proclaiming the mixtape as the “best album of 2011”, and Pitchfork bestowing the “Best New Music” title upon it. Dominating year-end lists across the board, it claimed number 5 on Stereogum, number 8 on The Guardian and number 13 on Spin.
His peers have also embraced him just as enthusiastically. Drake along with his team OVO, was the first artist to publicly proclaim his love for THE WEEKND’s music. The two joined forces and collaborated on several tracks from Drake’s no. 1 album, Take Care. One of the album standouts, “Crew Love,” co-written and co-produced by The Weeknd, also showcased his unique vocals throughout. “Crew Love”. Drake returned the favour by lending his vocals to one of THE WEEKND’s most popular tracks, “The Zone,” from his Thursday mixtape.
THE WEEKND was then asked to create official remixes for Florence & The Machine and Lady Gaga. His take on Florence’s “Shake It Out” became the single’s first official remix, and his interpretation of Gaga’s “Marry the Night“ was a dark centrepiece of her release, Born This Way: The Remixes. You can also find THE WEEKND’s signature voice on 2 Chainz’s chart-dominating new album, Based on a T.R.U. Story. The rapper uses a sample from “The Birds (Part 1)” off the singer’s Thursday mixtape as a hook for his track,“Like Me”.
