Review: Starboy (The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk)

The quality of a man's music occasionally corresponds with the quality of their hairstyle.

Let me introduce to you The Weeknd. The Weeknd, real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, is an R&B singer from Toronto who first saw undergorund popularity in 2011 with the release of his first trilogy of mixtapes, as well as an endorsement from fellow Toronto citizen and singer/rapper Drake. Since then, he's released two albums, Kiss Land and Beauty Behind the Madness, the latter being his transition to the mainstream. Now, his third studio album, Starboy, is almost on the way, and with it, an image change. The Weeknd actually has a sensible hairstyle for once. The title track, featuring French production duo and verified cool dudes Daft Punk, was the first single released from the album, and it entered the top 40 instantly. Does this song improve on the legacy of Stupid Hair McGee? Or... was the haircut not enough? Without further ado, let's find out.

Immediately, the production stood out to me. I don't know what it is that catches my fancy, but this song sounds great. We can thank Daft Punk for that; they don't sing, but they are the head producers. It's not the electronic or funk-influenced sound they are famous for, but they obviously know what they are doing. Very few instruments, but the ones that do show up give a very dark, but still pop-sounding song that fits The Weeknd's vocal style far better than most songs off of Beauty Behind the Madness (i.e. The Hills, the most overrated song off of that album).

Then there's The Weeknd himself. Is he any good? Well, I've certainly warmed up to him as a performer over the past two years (when I first heard him on Ariana Grande's Love Me Harder, I was outright baffled), and he's impressed me before. Suffice to say, he's still good on here. Why?

The Weeknd has an innate cockiness in his voice that shows through oftentimes on his own material, but it's very clear he is not sincere. This song is incredibly cocky and vain, but more in an ironic fashion. Thus, the two go together like bread and butter. He's cocky, the song's cocky, he sounds like Jeremih if Jeremih had any talent. It's a great one.

Oh yeah, the actual content of the song. Like I said, it's a very vain track. However, it reeks of The Weeknd's signature irony. It's more a cautionary tale about a man who had it all and it changed him. The success combined with the lifestyle made him fragile, made him weak, and he had to change. He grew arrogant and self-centered, a shell of his former self. It's an interesting concept for a song, and these guys were the perfect trio to make that work.

Overall, it was a great song. Everything about it was just plain great. As always, be sure to check out my other reviews, my Leaguepostings, if you ever feel the need, go ahead and leave a comment. Good night.


SCORE: 8.75/10

Leagueposting: The New Yorick's Rampage

For the record, here is the old Yorick.

Feel old, yet?

 

Now, here is is after last month's rework.

Feel cool, yet?
 

Yep, Yorick, the old fool I wrote about two months ago, is a new man. New lore, too. He's still in command of spirits to ruin your day, but it feels more modern and less clunky now. Considering he was on the free champion rotation for the first time in years, I decided to take a good look at him.

The first game I played with him was in the weekly game mode, Definitely Not Dominion, based on the old Dominion game mode they got rid of back in February. Here, you have to capture points on a map to deal damage to a giant crystal near the enemy spawn. It's a simple game mode, but not a terrible one. So, how did I do?

Well, I won, but I didn't do too well. My KDA ratio was leaning more toward deaths and assists, but since I wasn't terrible, I ended with a B rank. My main strategy was to figure out exactly how this champ worked whilst trying to stop the enemy team from capturing a very specific point. Yorick's ultimate, which spawns an ultra-powerful mist spirit, proved to be useful for this situation, considering how beefy the thing was. Yorick as a whole was fairly beefy, too. I could take quite a beating from the enemy team and it would take me a few seconds before they could take me down.

The second game I played was on the main map, Summoner's Rift. This game... well, that was a whole different story. For one, I ended with an A rank instead of a B. Secondly, the enemy team ended up surrendering. How could this be? Well, allow me to pull my memory out and see how accurate it is.

I went to the top lane, the normal home for beefy fighters and anyone that counters beefy fighters. Yorick fit the former category, so off I went. My lane opponent was Vi, a diving fighter with a lot more speed, but less bulk. Since she was personally one of my favorite champs, I knew how to play against her.

Here's Vi, in case you're curious.

Early on, our exchanges were a bit iffy. I didn't have all of my skills, and we ended up with two kills on each other before I got my main items. Once I obtained the Trinity Force, however, things were totally different. You see, the Trinity Force is an expensive, but still great item to own for certain champions, Vi and Yorick included. With the Trinity Force at my disposal, I had multiple offensive stats beefed up, and my abilities, including my ultimate, were more powerful.

I was a force to be reckoned with. I died three times in twenty five minuets, but at the same time, I had nine kills and a ton of gold for more items. The smaller spirits I summoned helped with that a lot. My strategy would be to summon my spirits with my secondary Q and occasionally my R, wall them in with W, and hit them with E to make the spirits attack them specifically. That, combined with my Q's damage-empowering primary ability and damage-dealing E allowed me to kill tons of enemies without really thinking about it. Another item that helped for those last couple of minutes was the Tiamat, a melee-only item that deals splash damage to minions, thus allowing me to kill minions quickly and get to the enemy base.

Sadly, I did not get to enjoy destroying the enemy base. They surrendered immediately after we took the top lane turret, likely because their support was AFK for most of the game. Still, it counted as a win, I got my A, and it was a good day.

Overall, what did I think of this champion? I loved him! I loved every minute of playing him! A resilient fighter who can raise ghosts from the spirits of dead enemies is a pretty awesome concept, but with the rework they actually managed to make it fun. Congrats, Riot. I can't wait for Warwick to get his rework soon. This has been another episode of Leagueposting, and I'll see you guys next time.

Review: Luv (Tory Lanez)

Sometimes I sit, and I think to myself, "Man, I would really love to be bored right now."

Tory Lanez is a rapper and R&B singer from Brampton, Ontario. He's been releasing mixtapes since 2009, but his first major studio album I Told You came out earlier this year. This song, Luv, is one of the two top-40 hits to come off of that album, the other being Say It. Why am I talking about this song in particular and not the other one? For one, Say It is an ultimately forgettable and drab song. Luv, on the other hand... yes, it's exactly as forgettable. I really do have no reason for picking this other than that it came out later. Let's stop delaying the inevitable and get right to the song

                                                                                     

The Wikipedia page refers to it as dancehall... as if we don't have enough of that already. Seriously, stop it. Something odd about the production is that the backing music track feels incredibly compressed and muffled. It sounds like a low-quality YouTube upload from 2007, and that is far from a compliment. It's harmless, but nothing worth praising.

The same can be said about the rest of the song, to be completely honest with you. Tory Lanez is not a terrible singer, but this song does not fit him at all. You can tell he's trying, but the producers needed tons of filters just to make him sound passable. In fact, I'd say a few of the filters actually made him sound worse than the intended effect.

Lyrically, this song is nothing special. Moving on to the overall.

Overall, this song is incredibly boring, lame, and forgettable. This is going to be a song rightfully forgotten by history, like... I don't know... Sugar Walls by Sheena Easton? It's not even a bad song, it's just completely average, almost mediocre, in every single area, kind of like pop music as a whole this year. Once again, thank you for reading, and remember, not even I know what's coming next.

SCORE: 5/10