All good artists evolve, and The Weeknd has shown in the last couple years that the sky truly is the limit when it comes to his musicality. In a continuation of the 80s inspired sound from After Hours, his newest single “Take My Breath” is a deeper exploration into the sounds that brought an entire generation to the dance floor every weekend.

As the song begins, I thought I had accidentally clicked on a Stevie Nicks song. It grooves differently, and quickly gets into the groove it after the guitar has introduced itself. The four-on-the-floor beat starts, and in comes the retro synths, setting the tone just perfectly. To say The Weeknd’s voice suits the song perfectly is an understatement. The Michael Jackson-esque tone over this irresistibly groovy instrumentation gives it this “Bad” vibe. With that being said, this is so obviously a The Weeknd song by no other merit than its quality, tone and execution. He has managed to set such an expectation with his releases, and “Take My Breath” truly is next level. The harmonies in the last chorus are especially heavenly, and unlike anything I’ve personally heard from The Weeknd. Compositionally, its structure fits the tone perfectly, bringing the artist’s ideas to sound beautifully.

Subjectively speaking, I don’t think I need to point out that this is one of my favorite songs from The Weeknd. Being part of a greater project, “Take My Breath” is a masterful window into the music that is to come from the singer. It’s a groovy song that makes it impossibly hard not to move your body as the beat pounds through the song from start to finish, in the same dark-disco way that The Weeknd introduced in “After Hours”.

Author: Nicholas Gaudet

Music producer and writer from Dieppe, Canada.