- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Jun 13, 2011When it's all said and done, Tesfaye has presided over a mind bending, drug induced tour through an underground world of debauchery that only leaves him hollow. He commands the mood better than artists who have been in the game for years and yet this his first release.
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May 10, 2011Here, the Weeknd thumbs its nose at mainstream R&B's hollow hedonism while simultaneously creating a flawless soundtrack to a blackout house party. What you should do with the track, ultimately, is press play.
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Apr 20, 2011House of Balloons is a surprisingly strong and confident debut for a new artist.
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Apr 27, 2011House of Balloons is a gorgeous album that pairs moody beats and samples with morbid lines about drugs and late-night encounters, all of it caulked with sex.
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May 4, 2011The core of the album's success is its fantastic establishment of tonal environment--a brooding sexuality both sadistic and carnivalesque.
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Apr 8, 2011What makes this whole thing work in an album context is that all the thematic and sonic pieces fit together-- these weird, morning-after tales of lust, hurt, and over-indulgence ("Bring the drugs, baby, I can bring my pain," goes one refrain) are matched by this incredibly lush, downcast music.
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Apr 11, 2011House of Balloons is an album suspended in contradiction--a collection of sex jams tired of sex, or a paean to coke addled irretrievably by the same. It lacks dynamism because it has to; the Weeknd know nothing else, just that in every solid groove lurks the metronomic pulse of something waiting to die.
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Apr 8, 2011House Of Balloons' hook is its canny incorporation of indie-rock attitude into R&B songs. But Tesfaye's lurid, unrepentant depiction of hard drugs and empty sex is what lingers long after the novelty of a couple of Beach House samples wears off.
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Sep 13, 2011While overall House of Balloons carries a chilling vibe, it proceeds to rock the listener with exciting tempos and relaxing melodies that intertwine to form a beautiful piece of art.
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Aug 3, 2011For what The Weeknd have produced, regardless of what genre it is or isn't, is a very good record.
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Jul 14, 2011A startling debut from a young Canadian RnB artist with huge potential.
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Apr 13, 2011The Weeknd have brought something much more, something much needed: something real. Kudos.
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Apr 8, 2011Lyrically, the mood vacillates between confrontational and reflective, but House Of Balloons really soars when his blunt resolve collides with a more nuanced or gentle vocal delivery, creating a tension reminiscent of Aaliyah's clear-headed emotional states.
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Apr 8, 2011The wormy hooks and earnest falsettos suggest the possibility of ginormous hits if Weeknd were to clean things up a bit, both lyrically and sonically. But let's hope that doesn't happen too soon.
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Apr 8, 2011Despite being a free mixtape, House of Balloons feels like a true album, a true labor of love (and pain and hardship and everything else), more genuine than more prominent R&B stars, but perhaps that is due to The Weeknd's anonymity.
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Dec 21, 2011It's no turning point in a field populated by dozens of elder space cadets and mood architects, from Massive Attack to Spacek to Sa-Ra. As a flawed first step from a young newcomer, however, it's impressive.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 409 out of 442
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Mixed: 15 out of 442
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Negative: 18 out of 442
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Apr 15, 2011
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Jul 9, 2011
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May 23, 2011