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Because of this, it is widely considered one of the most influential R&B projects in recent years. House of Balloons, along with Thursday and Echoes of Silence, was later remastered as the Trilogy album in 2012, with one extra song on each tape. The bonus track for this mixtape was his twenty-eighth song, “Twenty Eight”. There was a lot of that going on in the early 2010s — perhaps no more so than any other era, but all of it seemed to be getting attention. Death Grips made everyone forget that hip-hop had ever previously brushed shoulders with punk, noise, and metal — ditto for Sleigh Bells with regards to pop music.
The Weeknd's “Tell Your Friends” Was Originally Meant For Kanye West - Stereogum
The Weeknd's “Tell Your Friends” Was Originally Meant For Kanye West.
Posted: Wed, 04 Nov 2015 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Introducing the Bubble House!
The guy behind that project, Tom Krell, maintained anonymity from October 2009 to April 2010, when Pitchfork sniffed him out for a Q&A. We're all about bringing fun to your parties with our cool and stylish bounce houses. We have all sorts of inflatable rentals, including our special white bounce house that really stands out at any event. It's an inflatable dome filled with tons of floating balloons – a real party hit!
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Trilogy is the first compilation album and major label debut by Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd. It is composed of remixed and remastered versions of the songs contained in his 2011 mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, and three previously unreleased songs, "Twenty Eight", "Valerie", and "Till Dawn (Here Comes the Sun)" were included as bonus tracks. House of Balloons received widespread critical acclaim, and it is considered by many to be one of the most influential R&B releases in recent years, specifically the 2010s. Preceded by a string of low-profile buzz single releases throughout 2010, the mixtape attracted significant interest due to the then-anonymous identity of the individual behind the Weeknd. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, House of Balloons received a weighted average score of 87 based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Why was The Weeknd choosing to remain anonymous when this was released?
But while Ocean receded further and further into the shadows and released commercially unsuccessful, critically adored albums, the Weeknd improbably became one of the 2010s’ biggest success stories. For the omnivorous listener, hearing two disparate genres brush up against each other in ways you’d never previously imagined is a treat akin to watching Danny Devito and Arnold Schwarzenegger pal around in Twins. In December 2011, Metacritic determined that House of Balloons was the third best-reviewed project of the year.
That’s why the weirdo impulses — the whole red suit thing, the partnership with Oneohtrix Point Never, etc. — persist, but it’s also a masterclass in modern star-making. Anonymity may have been the marketing tactic du jour a decade ago, but more often than not, it’s hollow and unsustainable. What the Weeknd’s done is turn himself into a moodboard of his favorite directors, musicians, vibes. He began that process in auspicious form on House Of Balloons, and while he may have covered a ton of ground to get to where he is in 2021, the self-mythologizing is still going strong. On March 21, 2021, the tenth anniversary of the mixtape’s release, it was finally added to streaming services.
Just over a month before House Of Balloons‘ release, Frank Ocean put out his own debut mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra. The parallels abound — recognizable samples of indie/alternative music, casual drug references, the creators’ commitment to remaining elusive and behind-the-scenes — but in the years since, Tesfaye and Ocean have been on opposite trajectories. Nostalgia-era Ocean, with his brighter music, Coldplay and MGMT samples, and slightly bigger media presence (whereas Tesfaye wouldn’t give his first interview until 2013, Ocean was on a Fader cover by the end of 2011), seemed much more primed for the spotlight than the more dour, less family-friendly Tesfaye.
The Weeknd Reissuing Debut Mixtape House of Balloons for 10th Anniversary
House Of Balloons was the first installment of a mixtape trilogy, all of which arrived by the end of 2011. After working on his debut for years (and gifting a few cuts from its planned tracklist to Drake for his 2011 album, Take Care), the Weeknd rushed to release a follow-up. “There are lyrics on Thursday, I don’t even know what the fuck I said,” he quipped in that aforementioned 2013 interview.
House of Balloons is the debut mixtape by the Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd. It was released on March 21, 2011, by the artist's own record label XO. The mixtape was released for free on the Weeknd's website and was the subject of increased media discussion upon the use of its songs on television, as well as the then-anonymous identity of the individual behind the Weeknd. House of Balloons was entirely recorded in Toronto, with production handled primarily by the Weeknd, Doc McKinney, and Illangelo, alongside additional contributions from Cirkut, Jeremy Rose and Rainer.
The nearly eight-minute clip is described by authors Carrie Battan and Amy Phillips of Pitchfork as, "a time traveling, Afrofuturist, science fiction battle of the sexes that demands to be watched in HD." After excitedly covering the Weeknd’s earliest music at my first-ever blog gig in Spring 2011, I vividly remember the turning point, the day in May 2015 when “Can’t Feel My Face” and “In The Night” leaked. In between Kiss Land and that leak, singles “Often” and “Earned It” had hinted at a more pop-friendly Weeknd, but not like this. Both new leaks were co-produced by superproducer Max Martin, and sounded like it.
Kiss Land did well for itself commercially, debuting at #2, but as far as hits go, this still wasn’t Pop Star Weeknd. House of Balloons was commercially released as part of the compilation album Trilogy (2012) and included the singles "Wicked Games" and "Twenty Eight", the latter of which is a bonus track. On its tenth anniversary, the original mixtape was released in digital formats, and included samples which failed to gain copyright clearance on Trilogy. The reissue was accompanied by a limited edition line of merchandise designed by architect Daniel Arsham.
Tesfaye’s path to success was unlikely, but easy to chart in increments. “The Hills” was even bigger than “Can’t Feel My Face,” 2016’s Starboy had yet another #1 with its title track, and last year’s “Blinding Lights” is one of the most successful singles of all time, recently becoming the first-ever song to spend a whole year in the Top 10 of the Hot 100. Tesfaye’s now big enough to play Super Bowls and raise a justifiable stink about a Grammys snub. No matter how smitten you were with “What You Need” the first time you heard it, there’s no way you could’ve predicted a fraction of these achievements.
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