搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號(hào)【評(píng)論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語(yǔ)原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Joonly EC

審譯：Ryan-Chopin

排版：Ryan-Chopin

Abel Tesfaye finally delivers on his long-running vision, leveraging a self-loathing villain into an irresistible, cinematic narrative with his most satisfying collision of new wave, dream pop, and R&B.

Abel Tesfaye（The Weeknd的原名）最終達(dá)成了他長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)的愿景，利用一個(gè)自憐自艾的都市惡棍形象，講述了一個(gè)讓人無(wú)法抗拒的、電影般的故事和一場(chǎng)十分令人滿(mǎn)意的新浪潮、電子合成器流行樂(lè)、R&B的碰撞結(jié)合。

The Weeknd’s latest?short film?opens with the Toronto singer grinning maniacally onstage. He’s just finished a performance on?Jimmy Kimmel Live!?and blood crawls down the side of his bandaged nose, threatening to drip onto his suit. As the audience cheers, Abel Tesfaye walks backstage, his artificial smile intact, until he reaches a hallway where it fades into a frigid stare.

來(lái)自多倫多的歌手The Weeknd，他站在舞臺(tái)上精神失常般地咧嘴笑，以此展開(kāi)了他的最新音樂(lè)短片。他剛剛結(jié)束在《吉米雞毛秀》上的表演，鼻子包著繃帶，血從里面滲出來(lái)，好像就要滴到衣服上了。在觀眾的歡呼聲中，Abel Tesfaye走向后臺(tái)，他的假笑絲毫未動(dòng)，直到他走到走廊，漸漸變成冷淡的凝視。

The character he plays is an exaggerated riff on the solipsistic-hedonist persona Tesfaye has been tunneling into since his?2011 mixtape trilogy, where he first introduced listeners to his brand of brooding nihilism. In 2020, he continues to revel in high drama;?After Hours dives deep into the textures of pleasure, despair, and how we consciously distance ourselves from our interiors.

他所扮演的角色是對(duì)Tesfaye自2011年混音專(zhuān)輯三部曲以來(lái)一直在挖掘的唯我主義享樂(lè)主義人物角色的夸張重復(fù)。在三部曲中，Tesfaye首次向聽(tīng)眾介紹了令他沉思的虛無(wú)主義個(gè)人特色。在2020年，他繼續(xù)陶醉于精彩的個(gè)人戲劇;《After Hours》讓我們深入探索快樂(lè)和絕望的感覺(jué)，以及如何有意識(shí)地與內(nèi)心世界保持距離。

After years of attempting to bring the spectral tones of his early mixtapes to a mainstream pop format, Tesfaye finally unites his two worlds. His major-label debut?Kiss Land?was a languid disappointment, and?Beauty Behind the Madness?failed to live up to the promise made by the?Trilogy?tapes.?After Hours?delivers on the most compelling aspects of Tesfaye’s vision; leveraging a self-loathing villain into an irresistible, cinematic narrative with his most satisfying collision of new wave, dream pop, and R&B.

多年來(lái)，Tesfaye一直試圖將早期混音帶的光譜色調(diào)融入主流流行音樂(lè)，最終他將自己的兩個(gè)世界合二為一。他的廠牌處女作《Kiss Land》讓人失望，而《Beauty Behind the Madness》也未能達(dá)到三部曲作品所承諾的效果。《After Hours》提供了最引人注目的Tesfaye的愿景，利用一個(gè)自憐自艾的都市惡棍形象，講述了一個(gè)讓人無(wú)法抵抗的、電影般的故事和一場(chǎng)十分令人滿(mǎn)意的新浪潮、電子合成器流行樂(lè)、R&B的碰撞結(jié)合。

Even if he is singing about the same things—bacchanalian excess, loneliness as rapture, using women to rehabilitate his poor little life—the fresh vocals and production flourishes do the trick. On “Too Late,” his longtime producer Illangelo (alongside?Lizzo?producer Ricky Reed and DaHeala) mutate UK garage’s syncopated kicks and pitch-shifted echoes, drawing on the spirit of?My Dear Melancholy,’s “Wasted Times.” “Hardest to Love” couples a sharp jungle break with Tesfaye’s longing whispers about remorse and a troubled partnership.?Oneohtrix Point Never?and?Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker also lend production on “Repeat After Me (Interlude)” a collage of psychedelic wooshes and Vocoder dubs, while the ghostly eulogy “Until I Bleed Out” uses liturgical synth arpeggios reminiscent of “Boring Angel” from OPN’s?R Plus Seven.

即使他唱的總是同樣的東西——酗酒、孤獨(dú)和狂喜，利用女人來(lái)恢復(fù)他可憐的小生命——新鮮的歌聲和華麗的演出也能達(dá)到目的。在"Too Late"中，他的長(zhǎng)期制作人Illangelo與Lizzo的制作人Ricky Reed和DaHeala一起，改變了英國(guó)Garage樂(lè)隊(duì)切分的Kicks（一重鼓點(diǎn)）和變音的回聲，汲取了《My Dear Melancholy》中"Waste Times"的精神?！癏ardest to Love”分裂了他渴望的愛(ài)之呢喃，訴說(shuō)著悔恨和陷入困境的伴侶關(guān)系。Oneohtrix Point Never和Tame Impala的Kevin Parker也參與了“Repeat After Me (Interlude)”的制作，這是一個(gè)迷幻的呼呼聲和聲音合成機(jī)的拼貼，而幽靈般的悼詞“Until I Bleed Out”使用了禮拜式的合成和弦，讓人想起了OPN's R Plus Seven中的“Boring Angel”。

There’s always been a cinematic flair to Tesfaye’s music, as if he’s been chasing after his own?Purple Rain?moment—for now, he’ll have to settle for a?cameo in the Safdie Brothers’ 2019 thriller?Uncut Gems. He draws on synth-pop nostalgia to mirror the tragic glitz of ’80s Hollywood: “In Your Eyes” includes an arena-sized cheeseball sax solo, while the plinking synths and slick hand-claps of “Save Your Tears” evoke a long-lost Wham! track. Tesfaye can lean a little too hard on these Reagan-era signifiers, but his bleeding-heart melodies and donating an unforgettable hook to the synth player on “Blinding Lights” remind us why we keep listening in the first place.

Tesfaye的音樂(lè)總有一種電影天賦，就好像他一直在追逐屬于自己的Purple Rain(Prince的經(jīng)典曲目)時(shí)刻——現(xiàn)在，他只能滿(mǎn)足于在Safdie兄弟2019年的驚悚片《Uncut Gems》中客串一個(gè)角色。他利用對(duì)合成流行音樂(lè)的懷舊來(lái)反映80年代好萊塢的悲劇浮華:"In Your Eyes"中有一場(chǎng)宏偉的薩克斯獨(dú)奏，而“Save Your Tears"中合成器的叮當(dāng)聲和拍手聲則讓人想起再也聽(tīng)不到的Wham（威猛樂(lè)隊(duì)）的音樂(lè)。Tesfaye可能對(duì)這些里根時(shí)代的符號(hào)過(guò)于依賴(lài)，但他那動(dòng)人心弦的旋律，以及在"Blinding Lights"中的一段令人難忘的合成器旋律，解釋了我們?yōu)槭裁次覀円婚_(kāi)始就會(huì)沉迷于這首歌。

Like any good villain, Tesfaye is aware of the character he plays, dropping tongue-in-cheek one-liners like “Futuristic sex, give her Philip K. Dick” on “Snowchild.” Meanwhile, “Faith” cranks the gloomy dial up to 11, summoning a death drive reminiscent of the double-decker bus from The Smiths’ “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.” “But if I OD, I want you to OD right beside me,” he sings. “I want you to follow right behind me.”

和所有的反派角色一樣，Tesfaye也很了解自己扮演的這個(gè)角色，他在"Snowchild"中說(shuō)了一句半開(kāi)玩笑的俏皮話(huà)，比如"給她一種科幻小說(shuō)般的未來(lái)性愛(ài)（改編自網(wǎng)易云歌詞翻譯）”。與此同時(shí)，"Faith"的陰暗程度一下子調(diào)高了幾個(gè)段，召喚出一種死亡的感覺(jué)，讓人想起Smiths樂(lè)隊(duì)的"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"里的雙層巴士?！暗绻铱蘖耍蚁Ｍ阋苍谖疑磉吙?，”他唱道，“我要你跟在我身后?！?/p>

Despite all these textbook Weekndisms, Tesfaye wants us to know he’s struggling to reconcile the sinner he once was with the man he’s trying to become. He may not be the dysfunctional addict of the?Trilogy?years, but he’s also not willing to be the partner a woman might need him to be. What more can you expect out of pop music’s antihero? There is not a single song on the album that colors outside the lines he established nine years ago, but his narrow focus has paid off: He’s finally found harmony between the enigmatic noir-pop that broke him to the blogs and the arena-worthy ambition that launched him into the mainstream. It’s hard to tell where the universe of listeners fixated on filling spiritual voids through sex, drugs, and romance ends and the universe of the Weeknd’s tortured, empty melancholy and drunken, devastating love begins. That’s the beautiful blur of?After Hours.

盡管有這些教科書(shū)式的Weeknd特色，Tesfaye想讓我們知道，他正在努力讓他曾經(jīng)的罪人與他想要成為的人和解。他可能不再是三部曲中那個(gè)不正常的癮君子，但也不愿意成為一個(gè)被女性左右的理想伴侶。你還能從這個(gè)流行音樂(lè)的反派身上期待什么呢?在這張專(zhuān)輯中，沒(méi)有一首歌曲能超越他九年前確立的風(fēng)格，但他狹隘的關(guān)注點(diǎn)也終于得到了回報(bào):他終于在小眾的神秘暗黑流行曲風(fēng)和被主流關(guān)注之間找到了和諧點(diǎn)。我們很難判斷，那些專(zhuān)注于用性愛(ài)、毒品和浪漫來(lái)填補(bǔ)精神空虛的聽(tīng)眾是什么時(shí)候結(jié)束那些困擾的，也不清楚The Weeknd痛苦、空虛、憂(yōu)郁和醉醺醺、毀滅性的愛(ài)情是什么時(shí)候開(kāi)始的。那是《After Hours》帶來(lái)的朦朧美罷。