runninthaagaame
Rookie
Full interview: http://m.complex.com/music/2013/07/weeknd-interview-cover-story/page/1
With his new Kiss Land album due out later this summer, The Weeknd gives his first-ever full-length interview to Complex Magazine for their August/September 2013 issue, which he also covers. The notoriously media-shy Abel Tesfaye opens up about a plethora of topics in Damien Scott‘s cover story: his upcoming album, being an integral part of Drake’s Take Care, being overly critical of his work, his love for R. Kelly and having his heart broken. The Weeknd also addresses the rumors about his relationship with Drizzy:
People think you guys aren’t cool with each other anymore.
No, that’s not true. Definitely not true. But it makes sense. The thing about Drake is I told him what my decisions were going to be. And he was down with it from the beginning.
You mean in terms of your label deal?
Everything. I told him from day one what my decision was going to be. I wasn’t going that route. I was going to go my own route. And he supported me.
Read more highlights from The Weeknd’s interview after the jump…
On upcoming Kiss Land album:
A lot of it is inspired by filmmakers like John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Ridley Scott, because they know how to capture fear. That’s what Kiss Land is to me, an environment that’s just honest fear. I don’t know who I am right now and I’m doing all these outlandish things in these settings that I’m not familiar with. To me, it’s the most terrifying thing ever. So when you hear the screams in the record and you hear all these horror references and you feel scared, listen to the music because I want you to feel what I’m feeling. Kiss Land is like a horror movie.
On giving up records for Drake’s Take Care:
“Crew Love,” “Shot for Me,” and “The Ride” were supposed to be on ‘House of Balloons.’ I wanted to come out with like 14 records. I felt like “The Ride” was the last one, and it wasn’t done yet. [Drake] heard it and he was like, “This shyt’s crazy.” I was hungry at that time. I was like, “Dude, take anything.”
Yeah, he told me he wouldn’t be able to do the album without me. You can read it on the credits that he thanked me. I don’t know if that’s him being generous, but I gave him a lot of records. I made “Practice.”
He really wanted to incorporate my sound, which was inspired by his sound. It’s not like, “Oh, I had the ‘new sound.’” It was just easier for him to relate to me, because it was his sound with an edge. It was that Toronto sound. So yeah, you’re right. I feel like I could have been that for his album.
On R. Kelly:
I’m a huge fan of R. Kelly’s. He’s a musical genius, and probably the most prolific artist of the generation before mine. Some of the lines he says, if you say them in a normal voice, it’s the most disgusting thing you could say to somebody. But I can say “p*ssy-ass nikka” in the most elegant and sexiest way ever, and it’s accepted. If I can get away with singing that, I’m doing something right.
On heartbreak:
I think I did. I’m not sure. Some people think they go through situations and then it hits them like a fukking brick. I hope that I fell in love and I hope that my heart was broken. Because if I didn’t, then I don’t know what I’m about to go through in the next 20 years of my life.
With his new Kiss Land album due out later this summer, The Weeknd gives his first-ever full-length interview to Complex Magazine for their August/September 2013 issue, which he also covers. The notoriously media-shy Abel Tesfaye opens up about a plethora of topics in Damien Scott‘s cover story: his upcoming album, being an integral part of Drake’s Take Care, being overly critical of his work, his love for R. Kelly and having his heart broken. The Weeknd also addresses the rumors about his relationship with Drizzy:
People think you guys aren’t cool with each other anymore.
No, that’s not true. Definitely not true. But it makes sense. The thing about Drake is I told him what my decisions were going to be. And he was down with it from the beginning.
You mean in terms of your label deal?
Everything. I told him from day one what my decision was going to be. I wasn’t going that route. I was going to go my own route. And he supported me.
Read more highlights from The Weeknd’s interview after the jump…
On upcoming Kiss Land album:
A lot of it is inspired by filmmakers like John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Ridley Scott, because they know how to capture fear. That’s what Kiss Land is to me, an environment that’s just honest fear. I don’t know who I am right now and I’m doing all these outlandish things in these settings that I’m not familiar with. To me, it’s the most terrifying thing ever. So when you hear the screams in the record and you hear all these horror references and you feel scared, listen to the music because I want you to feel what I’m feeling. Kiss Land is like a horror movie.
On giving up records for Drake’s Take Care:
“Crew Love,” “Shot for Me,” and “The Ride” were supposed to be on ‘House of Balloons.’ I wanted to come out with like 14 records. I felt like “The Ride” was the last one, and it wasn’t done yet. [Drake] heard it and he was like, “This shyt’s crazy.” I was hungry at that time. I was like, “Dude, take anything.”
Yeah, he told me he wouldn’t be able to do the album without me. You can read it on the credits that he thanked me. I don’t know if that’s him being generous, but I gave him a lot of records. I made “Practice.”
He really wanted to incorporate my sound, which was inspired by his sound. It’s not like, “Oh, I had the ‘new sound.’” It was just easier for him to relate to me, because it was his sound with an edge. It was that Toronto sound. So yeah, you’re right. I feel like I could have been that for his album.
On R. Kelly:
I’m a huge fan of R. Kelly’s. He’s a musical genius, and probably the most prolific artist of the generation before mine. Some of the lines he says, if you say them in a normal voice, it’s the most disgusting thing you could say to somebody. But I can say “p*ssy-ass nikka” in the most elegant and sexiest way ever, and it’s accepted. If I can get away with singing that, I’m doing something right.
On heartbreak:
I think I did. I’m not sure. Some people think they go through situations and then it hits them like a fukking brick. I hope that I fell in love and I hope that my heart was broken. Because if I didn’t, then I don’t know what I’m about to go through in the next 20 years of my life.
