Starboy

Starboy is The Weeknd's third studio album that was released on November 25, 2016 by Republic Records & XO.
==Tracklisting==
#Starboy (featuring Daft Punk) 3:50
#Party Monster 4:09
#False Alarm 3:40
#Reminder 3:38
#Rockin’ 3:52
#Secrets 4:25
#True Colors 3:26
#Stargirl Interlude (featuring Lana Del Rey) 1:51
#Sidewalks (featuring Kendrick Lamar) 3:51
#Six Feet Under 3:57
#Love To Lay 3:43
#A Lonely Night 3:40
#Attention 3:17
#Ordinary Life 3:41
#Nothing Without You 3:18
#All I Know (featuring Future) 5:21
#Die For You 4:20
#I Feel It Coming (featuring Daft Punk) 4:29
==Album Background==
After the commercial success of his second studio album, "Beauty Behind the Madness" in 2015, The Weeknd hinted at the release of his third studio album on March 12, 2016 with his Instagram account calling it the next "chapter" to his music.
On August 24, 2016, The Weeknd was confirmed by the Republic Records executive vice president Wendy Goldstein to be collaborating with the French electronic dance duo Daft Punk, during an interview with Billboard.
On September 7, 2016, the album was confirmed to be in production from an interview with VMan, with influence taken from Prince, The Smiths, Talking Heads and Bad Brains.
In an interview with Billboard, The Weeknd revealed that heavy influences on the album were 50 Cent and the Wu-Tang Clan. He said in the interview: "The vibe on Starboy comes from that hip-hop culture of braggadocio from Wu-Tang and 50 Cent, the kind of music I listened to as a kid. Bragging just sounds good, man. I was a teenager when I saw Scarface, and even though it was unbelievable, it's kind of cool Tony Montana could survive all those gunshots and not feel them."
On September 21, 2016, the album overall and its title was officially announced with its release slated for November 25, 2016.
==Chart Performance==
"Starboy" debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 348,000 album-equivalent units, of which 209,000 were pure album sales.
In the United States, it was the third-largest debut sales week of 2016, the second-biggest week for album streams ever (175.2 million streams, behind Drake's album "Views"), and is The Weeknd's second number one album.
Following the release of the album, all 18 songs from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100; at the time, it marked the second-best total simultaneous Hot 100 entries, after Drake charted 20 songs at the same time in May 2016.
On January 30, 2019, "Starboy" was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streams in excess of three million units in the United States.
It was ranked as the third most popular album of the year in 2017 on the Billboard 200.
==Critical Reception==
"Starboy" received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, the album received an average score of 67, based on 25 reviews.
Annie Zaleski of The A.V. Club praised the album saying, "The record is a few songs too long, and it loses steam as it progresses. But such imperfections are par for the course: He'd rather express everything he's feeling than put forth an airbrushed or idealized version of himself. In that sense, Starboy is one of the most confident releases of the year, one bold enough to reveal the cracks in The Weeknd's façade for the sake of resonant art."
Michael Madden of Consequence of Sound said, "It would help if more of the album were idiosyncratic that way, but as is, Starboy is still the sound of Tesfaye knowing he has what it takes to be a major figure in pop music for a very long time."
Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph gave the album a positive review stating, "What is surprising is how seamless and integrated the sound is—a really luxurious, supple groove of sparkling electronica and sinuous, melodic vocals."
Nolan Feeney of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "While musicians writing about coping with newfound celebrity is one of pop's oldest tropes, the Weeknd avoids the usual clichés with observations and anecdotes that feel specific and genuine."
Ryan B. Patrick of Exclaim! saying: "Those wishing for a return to the Trilogy days will have to bit a tad longer; across 18 tracks, the Weeknd proves he's ready for primetime here, but there's still a sense of feeling out the new parameters."
Mehan Jayasuriya of Pitchfork said, "Starboy, by way of contrast [to Trilogy], feels more like an opportunistic compilation of B-sides than an album. Who is the Weeknd? At this point, even the man behind the curtain might not know."
In a mixed review, AllMusic's Andy Kellman stated: "The productions—the majority of which involve Doc McKinney and/or Cirkut, low-lighted by maneater dance-punk dud "False Alarm"—are roughly as variable in style as they are in quality. When pared down to its ten best songs, Starboy sounds like Tesfaye's most accomplished work."
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said: "There are things worth hearing on Starboy. It seems to capture an artist in a slightly awkward state of flux, unsure whether to cravenly embrace the kind of pop stardom that gets you on the shortlist for the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice awards or throw caution to the wind and do something more interesting artistically. Starboy hedges its bets and tries to do both. You can see why, but it makes for a curiously uneven album."
In another mixed review, Rolling Stone's Mosi Reeves stated: "Despite an overlong hour-plus runtime and surplus of filler, Starboy does have highlights. ... But for longtime fans that believe the Weeknd is one of the major R&B artists of the decade, Starboy will ultimately seem like a disappointment."
Category:2010s albums
Category:R&B