Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd is a bonafide pop-star who has come a long way from his early days of erotic lyricism and penchant for anonymity to embrace his star status. His previous album After Hourssaw him slip into the role of a pop icon with aplomb.

The new record, Dawn FM,  was released with none of the fanfare that we have come to associate with the artiste. There is a sombre allure that interplays with the dark-synth, euphoric rhythm as well as the artiste’s extreme themes. In Dawn FM, we see Abel as someone who is afraid and concerned about the decadence and the excesses of fame and life in the spotlight. While After Hours embraced the debauchery of his dark persona, this album inverts the idea and speaks volumes of his idea of annihilation of self and fears — take, for instance, songs like Gasoline, where he talks about setting himself on fire, and Sacrifice, where he expresses his thoughts on relationships.