• melodic yet dark – vocal focused
  • heavily produced – interesting beats & instrumentation
  • concept/narrative album
  • adult language and concepts

01 ‘High For This’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. great intro – oscillating tremelo tone panning around
  2. watery submerged beat

02 ‘What You Need’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. processed vox loop
  2. last line of chorus vox ends with delay

03 ‘House of Balloons – Glass Table Girls’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. transition is a funky repeat + pitch drop of vox
  2. stitch 2 songs together to make one

04 ‘The Morning’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. monotone vox over rich chords
  2. strange percussion – balloon bursting/fireworks

05 ‘Wicked Games’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. same chord pattern broken by pauses
  2. thicken riff over time
06 ‘The Party & The After Party’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. pulsing, breathy beat – surging
  2. two versions of the one song (same chords/melody) stitched together
07 ‘Coming Down’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. 10CC-like sample (fem spoken whispered)
    becomes loop and melodic/rhythmic element of remaining track)
  2. chorus: main lyric line in two halves
    ‘i always want you when i’m’ – ‘coming down’

08 ‘Loft Music’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. 2 lead vox overlapping, like a conversation, or good/bad internal dialogue
  2. midway: track descends into dreamy ambient track
    delays, pan sweeps, eq sweeps, verb soaked