Quarantunes: Dancing the Pain Away with Dua Lipa and The Weeknd

During this pandemic, I’ve found my time alone to be particularly unstable. I often turn to podcasts to take me out of my day-to-day anxieties, but many of many favorite shows are focusing on the effects of a crisis that is currently affecting us all. Music has provided a much-needed escape from anxiety in a time of overwhelming trauma.

There are a few different types of music that I’ve found helpful, comforting or cathartic. Like any time of anxiety, the emotions we’re feeling are all over the place. In an hour, you can shift from crippling boredom to crippling hip pops. Let’s start with joy.

Almost a month after their release and subsequent chart success, After Hours and Future Nostalgia are no longer sleeper recommendations. The Weeknd and Dua Lipa have released the two most popular albums since we have sheltered-in-place. Each has spawned a TikTok dance craze, a renewed interest in disco/new wave, and broken sales records for each respective artist. It would feel wrong to do a series about quarantine music and not include these two releases.

Future Nostalgia is the first album that’s made me YouTube “____ TikTok Dance Lesson.” Is this a proud moment in my post-graduate life? We’ll have to wait until you see the full song choreography I’ve been working on.

Simply, Dua Lipa’s sophomore effort is a near-perfect pop album. It’s a heavily produced, packed-with-bops project in an era dominated by an “LP as single promotion” approach.

While I was aware of Dua Lipa’s existence and rising status as international pop star, it took until her feature on Brockhampton’s SUGAR Remix for her enter my field of musical vision. I’m often embarrassed to be grouped in with the tween-angst driven Brockhampton fandom, but in this case, I think we all had the same reaction.

“Oh, she’s cool”

I’m glad that I found her, even though I never knew I’d need an album to soundtrack “dancing in a sweaty club in front of an ex”.

Turns out that was all that I’ve been waiting for, even if that club is my flipping the light switch on and off repeatedly in the bathroom in my parents’ house.

Break My Heart is my favorite single right now. It’s near impossible to sit still listening to this song. The well-timed “stay at home” lyric has brought out the aforementioned hip pops on numerous occasions. The single is one of a couple songs on the project that finds the perfect combination of funky bass line, splashy hi-hats and four on the floor beats.

It’s closest comparison on the album is Don’t Start Now, the lead single and most successful song on the project. The song started the success of the album’s sound, a disco-pop fusion that sounds unique on today’s charts. The song spawned a Tik Tok dance craze and platinum plaque for Lipa.

Dua Lipa’s success comes at an interesting time for pop star women. I’ve wrote repeatedly on this blog about hip hop music taking over as the de facto pop sound of this era, even singling out Ariana Grande as the last of a dying breed of pop mega-stars. Dua Lipa breaks that timeline.

While she doesn’t have the powerhouse voice of Grande, Dua sure knows how to pick a song.

Lipa has an almost rapper-esque ability to find the cadence of the beat she writes for, even if the songs aren’t hip hop whatsoever. Her lyrics are sad, either right on the verge of a break-up or getting over said split. It’s perfect for a time that really doesn’t need the “my life is great” ego of some of hip hop and pop’s biggest stars.

The Weeknd brings a similar despair to much of his new album, After Hours. In a relatable move, The Weeknd’s fourth studio album is filled with lyrics about a semi-autobiographical character on the verge of a breakdown.

He’s living fast, regretting his actions before he even makes them. He’s having fun, sure, but it won’t last. For an artist that has spent much of his career positing as an even-more drugged up MJ (The Weeknd has said D.D. inspired much of his sound) or Prince, this isn’t new fodder, but the songs are.

There seems to be consensus that this is the Weeknd’s best studio album, but it’s hard to nail down exactly why. From turning it on, its very clearly a Weeknd album, his lyrical themes and R&B-New Wave mix are recognizable for past fans.

“In a relatable move, The Weeknd’s fourth studio album is filled with lyrics about a semi-autobiographical character on the verge of a breakdown.”

However, it feels like he’s finally perfected his pop star status. He’s always had the pieces — this album brings back hit-makers Max Martins and Metro Boomin. For the first time since his debut mixtape trilogy, The Weeknd translated his raw talent and industry connections to a great piece of work.

Heartless, a Metro Boomin-produced track, served as the first single of the album. It’s an undeniable hit from the first listen. That’s nothing new, we’ve seen a hit on every Weeknd album.

It’s the quality of the second Metro Boomin collaboration, Faith, that shows the commitment to this project. Faith doesn’t have the single ability of Heartless, but it still hits as soon as you press play. The track switches from pulsing synths to a valley of “I’m on five drugs at once” emotion. The Weeknd seamlessly flows between rapping and singing in a way that’s he’s been mastering for the better part of a decade. While you’re being zapped in and out of this sonic cavern, lyrics about distrust of his dealer’s intentions and his desire for his lady-friend to “OD right beside me” paint a picture of a man on the edge of a drug-induced collapse.

It’s worth mentioning the marketing of the album as well. This is one of the best marketed album roll-outs in a long time. Essentially every public appearance that Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) has made in the past year has helped cultivate the image that he’s personifying in the After Hours marketing campaign.

His appearance in Uncut Gems ended with him getting punched by Adam Sandler’s character. He Shows up on the After Hours cover with a broken nose. Every music video, profile and performance has had his dressed up in a red suit, sunglasses and the broken nose makeup.

The music videos have a continuity between them that tells a cinematic story. Following the lyrics of the album, Tesfaye plays a character that goes through a crazy party night, eventually ending up possessed and murderous.

These images are quickly becoming iconic, and that iconography is leading to an incredible sales run. After Hours has topped the Billboard albums chart three weeks in a row, and both Heartless and Blinding Lights reached #1 on the singles chart.

A big reason for his album’s charting success has been merchandise sales. Guess what people like buying clothes with? That’s right, iconic imagery.

Sidebar: This seems like a fun time to point out the mustache. I am pro mustache for multiple reasons. One, it looks great. Two, between the mustache and the use of the lyric “where are you now?” (On After Hours), Tesfaye beats Justin Bieber at his own game twice.

Many huge pop stars have been delaying their albums until after the pandemic ends. With some stroke of incredibly mixed luck, The Weeknd and Dua Lipa both picked the perfect time to release the type of album they had been working on for years.

It turns out the perfect album for a pandemic is an upbeat, dancy album about how your life is falling apart.