[dropcap size=”5″]W[/dropcap]alking from the embassy suites to the venue I was immediately struck by the irony of the country flags from around the world lining the Benjamin Franklin Parkway leading up to the Made in America festival. The road was full of vendors selling bootleg printed T-shirts, pretzels, water, Gatorade, ice cream and whatever other drunken delicacies they could think of.
R&B is an ever-expanding and changing genre, especially in 2012… if you’re a man. Frank Ocean, Migeul, and The Weeknd all rose to higher notoriety and famethanks, in part, to their minimalist beats and crisp falsettos. They brought fresh sounds and perspectives and reinvigorated the likes of Usher, with “Climax” being a direct result of the Weeknd and Drake.
A new breed of sex, r&b, and indie releases has been forming in music. The Weeknd has become the fully-developed realization of this new breed; an r&b singer’s lush voice over the sparse and innovative sounds that reference indie electronica and rock. Little is known about the man behind The Weeknd, except his name is Abel Tesfaye, with production by Jeremy Rose, Illangelo and Doc McKinneh.
[media url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORVz_qeKgvg” width=”690″ height=”380″] First up, The Weeknd’s “Rolling Stone.” The Weeknd has already proven to be a master of image and marketing, he tells you only what he deems worthy of sharing with you. Here, he provides his face and all that it can reveal while emoting a song like “Rolling Stone.”