The Weeknd's career deserved a best of. Shortly after the release and the worldwide success of After Hours in 2020, and without a doubt one of his best projects, The Highlights is a synthesis of ten years of music, ten years spent defining modern pop. So, let's say it right away, there are no surprises here in terms of the track list. We find The Weeknd's hits, including the latest phenomenon, Blinding Lights, but also I Feel it Coming , a duet with Daft Punk, or The Hills, which truly transformed him into a global pop star in 2016. With no new material, this Greatest Hits allows you to retrace the Canadian's discography, but also to make some detours through projects other than his albums, in particular thanks to Earned It from the soundtrack to the film 50 Shades of Grey, to Pray For Me from Black Panther, or Love Me Harder, featuring Ariana Grande and released on the album My Everything by the latter in 2014. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

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If Eminem's Curtain Call: The Hits really is his final bow and not merely a clever denouement to his series of Eminem Show and Encore albums, it's a worthy way to retire. And even if he stages a comeback years from now, there's little question that the first five years of his career, spanning four albums plus a soundtrack, will be his popular and creative peak, meaning that the time is right for Curtain Call -- it has all the songs upon which his legend lies. Which isn't necessarily the same things as all the hits. There are a few odds and ends missing -- most notably one of his first hip-hop hits, "Just Don't Give a F***," plus 2003's "Superman" and 2005's "Ass Like That" -- but all the big songs are here: "Guilty Conscience," "My Name Is," "Stan," "The Real Slim Shady," "The Way I Am," "Cleanin' Out My Closet," "Lose Yourself," "Without Me" and "Just Lose It." They're not presented in chronological order, which by and large isn't a problem, since the sequencing here not only has a good, logical momentum, alternating between faster and slower tracks, but they're all part of a body of work that's one of the liveliest, most inventive in pop music in the 21st century. The only exception to the rule are the three new songs here, all finding Shady sounding somewhat thin. There's the closing "When I'm Gone," a sentimental chapter in the Eminem domestic psychodrama that bears the unmistakable suggestion that Em is going away for a while. While it's not up to the standard of "Mockingbird," it is more fully realized than the two other new cuts here, both sex songs that find Shady sounding as if he's drifting along in his own orbit. "Shake That" has an incongruous Nate Dogg crooning the chorus, while the wildly weird "Fack" finds Eminem spending the entire track fighting off an orgasm; it seems tired, a little too close to vulgar Weird Al territory, and it doesn't help that his Jenna Jameson reference seems a little old (everybody knows that the busty porno "It" girl of 2005 is Jesse Jane; after all, she even was in Entourage). Even if these three cuts suggest why Eminem is, if not retiring, at least taking a long break, that's fine: they're reasonably good and are bolstered by the rest of the songs here, which don't just capture him at his best, but retain their energy, humor, weirdness, and vitality even after they've long become overly familiar. And that means Curtain Call isn't just a good way to bow out, but it's a great greatest-hits album by any measure.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

On his very first concert album, the Weeknd celebrated a decade's worth of hits with Live at SoFi Stadium, which was recorded in November 2022 at two sold-out After Hours til Dawn Tour shows in Inglewood, California. Here, his hedonistic tales of sex, drugs, fame, and death are presented on an epic fantasy/sci-fi scale, matching the sizes of the stadiums he played on this triumphant global tour. For fans of his synth-heavy early-2020s material, the run of "Gasoline"/"Sacrifice"/"How Do I Make You Love Me?" is unmatched, a thrilling stretch of energy that could have gone stratospheric if he had included that other Swedish House Mafia collaboration, "Moth to a Flame." While Dawn FM and After Hours get the most love, every era is given attention, reaching all the way back to House of Balloons and even diving into deep cuts from his My Dear Melancholy EP. He dipped into his lengthy list of features with "Hurricane" (from Kanye West's Donda), "Crew Love" (from Drake's Take Care), "Or Nah" (from Ty Dolla $ign's Beach House EP), and "Low Life" (from Future's EVOL). While there were a few notable omissions (hits like "In Your Eyes" and "Pray for Me" to start), this is essentially a greatest-hits playlist and a dream set for both casual and die-hard fans alike.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

Swedish metalcore band Amaranthe's 2011 debut showcased their inspired mix of melodic pop, harsh grinding guitar, and synth-based heavy metal. Included here are the singles "Hunger," "Rain," "Amaranthine," and "1,000,000 Lightyears."© Matt Collar /TiVo

The Weeknd is going back to his roots on this surprise album (or half album) that he has gifted the world. After a collaborative album with Daft Punk (Starboy), which shot him to international stardom and also brought him a Grammy, the R&B singer from “The 6” (Toronto Metropolitan Area) has shifted back to a more personal effort. Abel Tesfaye, or alias The Weeknd co-writes 6 deeply personal tracks that focus on love, drugs and sex, the perfect formula for an R&B album. He opens up more than ever about his current trials and tribulations with relationships, but his pain is our gain. The 21 minutes of music is vintage The Weeknd from his album Trilogy, deeply chilling with distressed synths and spacey falsetto vocals. OG fans of The Weeknd will love this record, while it will still create many new ones.

Released two days before the Weeknd provided the halftime entertainment at Super Bowl LV, The Highlights also happened to arrive near the tenth anniversary of House of Balloons, the singer's debut mixtape. Considering where he's gone in that time, from a shadowy unknown to a global pop star, there's no knocking the impulse to look back. In February 2021, the Weeknd was still deep in the promotional cycle for After Hours, but it's nonetheless surprising that more selections are from that album -- including three singles that went Top Ten in his native Canada and the U.S. -- than any other Weeknd release. Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy, the two previous number one albums, are also well represented, leaving the remainder to be drawn from House of Balloons and the My Dear Melancholy, EP (while the second and third tapes and Kiss Land are shut out). This also gathers the hits that originated on the soundtracks for Fifty Shades of Grey and Black Panther, plus the Ariana Grande duet "Love Me Harder." The Highlights is a well-selected point of entry. That it rarely dips into album cuts and doesn't include all of the major singles speaks to the depth of the catalog.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

There isn't much difference between Sticks and Stones and New Found Glory's prior, self-titled MCA effort. It's highly accomplished, energetic punk-pop, the harmonies radiating youthful cheer, Jordan Pundik's lead vocals adding a tinge of youthful defiance and vulnerability. It's much more upbeat, for instance, than the opening lines of the opening cut, "Understatement," might portend: "I'm sick of smiling, and so is my jaw." Could it be that they're tiring of their usual upbeat demeanor and slyly slipping in a subversive message there? Not likely -- most of these are still upbeat if ambivalent songs about tense relationship growing pains and breakups, though sometimes colored with the wider territory of finding inner strength, dealing with loss, and coming out of rough experiences for the better. It's more engaging than exciting, and though it sounds pretty radio-ready in the better sense of that term, it does start to blur together over a full-length hearing.© Richie Unterberger /TiVo

Download not available
If Eminem's Curtain Call: The Hits really is his final bow and not merely a clever denouement to his series of Eminem Show and Encore albums, it's a worthy way to retire. And even if he stages a comeback years from now, there's little question that the first five years of his career, spanning four albums plus a soundtrack, will be his popular and creative peak, meaning that the time is right for Curtain Call -- it has all the songs upon which his legend lies. Which isn't necessarily the same things as all the hits. There are a few odds and ends missing -- most notably one of his first hip-hop hits, "Just Don't Give a F***," plus 2003's "Superman" and 2005's "Ass Like That" -- but all the big songs are here: "Guilty Conscience," "My Name Is," "Stan," "The Real Slim Shady," "The Way I Am," "Cleanin' Out My Closet," "Lose Yourself," "Without Me" and "Just Lose It." They're not presented in chronological order, which by and large isn't a problem, since the sequencing here not only has a good, logical momentum, alternating between faster and slower tracks, but they're all part of a body of work that's one of the liveliest, most inventive in pop music in the 21st century. The only exception to the rule are the three new songs here, all finding Shady sounding somewhat thin. There's the closing "When I'm Gone," a sentimental chapter in the Eminem domestic psychodrama that bears the unmistakable suggestion that Em is going away for a while. While it's not up to the standard of "Mockingbird," it is more fully realized than the two other new cuts here, both sex songs that find Shady sounding as if he's drifting along in his own orbit. "Shake That" has an incongruous Nate Dogg crooning the chorus, while the wildly weird "Fack" finds Eminem spending the entire track fighting off an orgasm; it seems tired, a little too close to vulgar Weird Al territory, and it doesn't help that his Jenna Jameson reference seems a little old (everybody knows that the busty porno "It" girl of 2005 is Jesse Jane; after all, she even was in Entourage). Even if these three cuts suggest why Eminem is, if not retiring, at least taking a long break, that's fine: they're reasonably good and are bolstered by the rest of the songs here, which don't just capture him at his best, but retain their energy, humor, weirdness, and vitality even after they've long become overly familiar. And that means Curtain Call isn't just a good way to bow out, but it's a great greatest-hits album by any measure.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Swedish metalcore band Amaranthe's 2011 debut showcased their inspired mix of melodic pop, harsh grinding guitar, and synth-based heavy metal. Included here are the singles "Hunger," "Rain," "Amaranthine," and "1,000,000 Lightyears."© Matt Collar /TiVo

Coming off multi-platinum, Grammy-winning success with Starboy and apt placement on the Black Panther soundtrack, Abel Tesfaye shirks candy-coated summertime jams for aggrieved ballads with this six-track EP, issued with little advance notice. Considering its unswerving focus on romantic anguish and self-medication, and a listener's natural inclination to associate the pronouns with Tesfaye's famous exes, the EP might seem extreme, but it retraces familiar shapes in condensed form. Most obviously, "Call Out My Name" resembles "Earned It" with synthesized menace in place of strings and a dash of the distorted terror previously heard on "The Hills." In one verse directed at the object of his unrequited affection, Tesfaye confesses that he wasn't truthful when he said he "didn't feel nothing," then lashes out for being taken at his initial word and treated in kind, "just another pit stop." In that regard, the level of emotional maturity hasn't changed much since the mixtapes. Apart from the sly and sweet 2-step rhythm on "Wasted Times," the sound of the EP is bleary R&B with beats that drag and lurch, suited for Tesfaye's routine swings between self-pity and sexual vanity, chemically enhanced from one extreme to the other. For all his rehashed scenes, Tesfaye can be one of the most affecting vocalists in contemporary pop. When he sings "I got two red pills to take the blues away" in "Privilege," he might as well be slouched in the driver's seat of one of his luxury sports cars, staring into his open palm like he's holding all that he truly values.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

On his very first concert album, the Weeknd celebrated a decade's worth of hits with Live at SoFi Stadium, which was recorded in November 2022 at two sold-out After Hours til Dawn Tour shows in Inglewood, California. Here, his hedonistic tales of sex, drugs, fame, and death are presented on an epic fantasy/sci-fi scale, matching the sizes of the stadiums he played on this triumphant global tour. For fans of his synth-heavy early-2020s material, the run of "Gasoline"/"Sacrifice"/"How Do I Make You Love Me?" is unmatched, a thrilling stretch of energy that could have gone stratospheric if he had included that other Swedish House Mafia collaboration, "Moth to a Flame." While Dawn FM and After Hours get the most love, every era is given attention, reaching all the way back to House of Balloons and even diving into deep cuts from his My Dear Melancholy EP. He dipped into his lengthy list of features with "Hurricane" (from Kanye West's Donda), "Crew Love" (from Drake's Take Care), "Or Nah" (from Ty Dolla $ign's Beach House EP), and "Low Life" (from Future's EVOL). While there were a few notable omissions (hits like "In Your Eyes" and "Pray for Me" to start), this is essentially a greatest-hits playlist and a dream set for both casual and die-hard fans alike.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

The Weeknd is going back to his roots on this surprise album (or half album) that he has gifted the world. After a collaborative album with Daft Punk (Starboy), which shot him to international stardom and also brought him a Grammy, the R&B singer from “The 6” (Toronto Metropolitan Area) has shifted back to a more personal effort. Abel Tesfaye, or alias The Weeknd co-writes 6 deeply personal tracks that focus on love, drugs and sex, the perfect formula for an R&B album. He opens up more than ever about his current trials and tribulations with relationships, but his pain is our gain. The 21 minutes of music is vintage The Weeknd from his album Trilogy, deeply chilling with distressed synths and spacey falsetto vocals. OG fans of The Weeknd will love this record, while it will still create many new ones.

Download not available
If Eminem's Curtain Call: The Hits really is his final bow and not merely a clever denouement to his series of Eminem Show and Encore albums, it's a worthy way to retire. And even if he stages a comeback years from now, there's little question that the first five years of his career, spanning four albums plus a soundtrack, will be his popular and creative peak, meaning that the time is right for Curtain Call -- it has all the songs upon which his legend lies. Which isn't necessarily the same things as all the hits. There are a few odds and ends missing -- most notably one of his first hip-hop hits, "Just Don't Give a F***," plus 2003's "Superman" and 2005's "Ass Like That" -- but all the big songs are here: "Guilty Conscience," "My Name Is," "Stan," "The Real Slim Shady," "The Way I Am," "Cleanin' Out My Closet," "Lose Yourself," "Without Me" and "Just Lose It." They're not presented in chronological order, which by and large isn't a problem, since the sequencing here not only has a good, logical momentum, alternating between faster and slower tracks, but they're all part of a body of work that's one of the liveliest, most inventive in pop music in the 21st century. The only exception to the rule are the three new songs here, all finding Shady sounding somewhat thin. There's the closing "When I'm Gone," a sentimental chapter in the Eminem domestic psychodrama that bears the unmistakable suggestion that Em is going away for a while. While it's not up to the standard of "Mockingbird," it is more fully realized than the two other new cuts here, both sex songs that find Shady sounding as if he's drifting along in his own orbit. "Shake That" has an incongruous Nate Dogg crooning the chorus, while the wildly weird "Fack" finds Eminem spending the entire track fighting off an orgasm; it seems tired, a little too close to vulgar Weird Al territory, and it doesn't help that his Jenna Jameson reference seems a little old (everybody knows that the busty porno "It" girl of 2005 is Jesse Jane; after all, she even was in Entourage). Even if these three cuts suggest why Eminem is, if not retiring, at least taking a long break, that's fine: they're reasonably good and are bolstered by the rest of the songs here, which don't just capture him at his best, but retain their energy, humor, weirdness, and vitality even after they've long become overly familiar. And that means Curtain Call isn't just a good way to bow out, but it's a great greatest-hits album by any measure.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

The Weeknd's career deserved a best of. Shortly after the release and the worldwide success of After Hours in 2020, and without a doubt one of his best projects, The Highlights is a synthesis of ten years of music, ten years spent defining modern pop. So, let's say it right away, there are no surprises here in terms of the track list. We find The Weeknd's hits, including the latest phenomenon, Blinding Lights, but also I Feel it Coming , a duet with Daft Punk, or The Hills, which truly transformed him into a global pop star in 2016. With no new material, this Greatest Hits allows you to retrace the Canadian's discography, but also to make some detours through projects other than his albums, in particular thanks to Earned It from the soundtrack to the film 50 Shades of Grey, to Pray For Me from Black Panther, or Love Me Harder, featuring Ariana Grande and released on the album My Everything by the latter in 2014. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz