The Weeknd was “angry” when Usher’s song ‘Climax’ came out because he felt he copied his style.
The ‘Starboy’ hitmaker claims that the 2012 R&B song was too similar to his mixtape ‘House of Balloons’, which was released the year before, but admitted he later learned that it’s not a bad thing for someone to take influence from his work, and he ended up finding it “very flattering”.
In an interview with Variety, the Canadian singer – whose real name is Abel Tesfaye – said: “‘House of Balloons’ literally changed the sound of pop music before my eyes. I heard ‘Climax,’ that Usher song, and was like, ‘Holy f***, that’s a Weeknd song.'”
He added: “It was very flattering.I knew I was doing something right, but I also got angry. But the older I got, I realized it’s a good thing.”
The ‘Blinding Lights’ hitmaker’s manager, Wassim Slaiby, added how it took his “small team” a lot of hard work and determination to get The Weeknd’s career off the ground, and hailed his client for starting a “whole new R&B wave”.
He told the publication: “People saw the rise, but have no idea how hard Abel and our small team worked for years before we got the recognition. “Abel created this whole new R&B wave everyone is on now.”
Although The Weeknd felt ‘Climax’ was like his music, the producer of the track, Diplo, previously revealed how it actually started off as a “minimal techno record with Atlanta strip clubs in mind”.
He said when it came out: “The production actually started as a house thing with a chord progression that I wrote, but with some time in the studio alone, I was making a sort of ‘wildfire’ beat out of it.
“The idea of pushing cut-off on a synth used so much in progressive house music but pulling back. I was making something like a minimal techno record with Atlanta strip clubs in mind.”
The ‘After Hours’ album is The Weeknd’s fourth studio album. It was released on March 20th, and has received great success. According to reports, On March 19, 2020, a record 1.02 million users per-added ‘After Hours’ to their Apple Music library. The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200.
Billboard noted, the album opened at No. 1 two weeks ago, with 444,000 units (according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data), and then held atop the list for a second week with 138,000.
