Freshly picked out of the indie-box comes, The Weeknd, the freakishly addictive sole entity who most people weren’t facially familiar with until he had created quite the buzz. With a name like, The Weeknd, most people would assume the artist was just another rebel-rocking garage band, but this is no amateur…at least his body of work says so.

The Toronto-native, Abel Tesfaye, fuses R&B elements with lushy/dreamy sounds and boasts an influential saavy like that of The Dream, Aaliyah and Frank Ocean.

With a co-sign from Drake after performing at the OVO Festival in Canada recently, this guy could very well be a household name in no time.

The Weeknd made a splash on the industry with, House of Balloons, his mixtape debut released in March of this year. The viral hit features production from Doc McKinney and Illangelo. The mixtape sees the 20-year old singer toying with the art of seduction and vividly captures his abstraction of women as his muse.

The eerie and trance-like production on House of Balloons calls for a listener’s adaptation to mood and delivery, driving the listener to pay close attention to the vocals, which mirror the poppy tunes of the late 90s-very high pitched, long-held notes.

Keep a good eye out for The Weeknd, he’s sure to make headlines for his music sooner than you think.

Download House of Balloons HERE.

IABG Stand-Outs: “What You Need“, “High For This“, “The Knowing” and “The Morning“.

“What You Need“

Are you feeling The Weeknd?