The Weeknd is arguably one of the greatest artists of this generation. His rise to fame in the music industry has been one of pure musical quality. In 2012 it was Trilogy, in 2013 it was Kiss Land and in 2015 it was Beauty Behind The Madness.

On September 15, The Weeknd tweeted out two emojis. An emoji of brown leaves to represent the fall and an hourglass to represent time counting down. Six days later, he announced that he would have a new album coming 2016: Starboy. He tweeted out an audio snippet with a caption.

“ALBUM PRE ORDER AND SINGLE : STARBOY FT. DAFT PUNK”

It was official, 2016 was Starboy. Fans were finally given a piece of what they were to expect come November 25. Starboy is different.

Although it does reflect some of the qualities found in Beauty Behind The Madness, it definitely has it’s own distinct sound. He also throws Daft Punk into the song, which was a very interesting choice for him.

It works in his favor, because it gives the song it’s distinct sound that was discussed earlier. Although repetitive, it was clear what The Weeknd was going for. The songs repetition and overall pop sound show that he may be trying to attract a different crowd of listeners. As far as comparison to his other music, it sounds more like Beauty Behind The Madness than Trilogy or Kiss Land.

Trilogy, a compilation of his three mixtapes, had more of a dark feeling to it. It used echoing sounds and the beats were overall quality, but had a dark tone. It complemented his voice and the songs were enjoyable. Starboy is more upbeat, and may worry fans of his earlier work. Understand that this is not Trilogy, Kiss Land or even Beauty Behind The Madness.

The Weeknd is more ambitious on this single than he has ever been, which sets the tone that fans may get from his new album. Judging off this single, the album may be more different than anything he has ever released before.

“I really liked Starboy,” senior Jasmine Gosalvez said. “It was really upbeat, but it definitely was different from his earlier projects for the better.”

Starboy, although a good single, cannot be used as a sole reflection for what the album may be like. There are also other factors. In May, it was teased that The Weeknd could be working with A-lister Justin Timberlake on his new album. This could be a positive direction as far as publicity and the quality of the music. Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience dominated the charts in 2013  and presented multiple memorable tracks that The Weeknd could learn off of. As far as production,

The Weeknd said in May that he was working with the same team that helped with his 2011 mixtape House of Balloons. House of Balloons is arguably the best of the three mixtapes, and featured songs like Wicked Games, The Morning and High For This.

On September 29, The Weeknd released a second single, False Alarm. False Alarm is once again, very different from his other projects. This time, not for the better. False Alarm has a punk rock feeling to it, with an interesting hook. In the hook, The Weeknd screams “false alarm” and the beat rises.

“The second single doesn’t feel like The Weeknd,” Gosalvez said. “I hope the album brings more to the table than this did.”