Toronto-based singer Abel Tesfaye, better known to the masses as The Weeknd,

released his second mixtape a couple of weeks ago to the ever music-craving public.

Thursday is the much-anticipated follow-up to the critically acclaimed House of Balloons, The Weeknd’s first project that was released

back in March. Make no mistake however, Thursday is a mixtape only by name and sounds better than most retail albums released this year.

The opening track, ‘Lonely Star’, starts off on the right note as one of the more upbeat songs on the mixtape with The Weeknd telling his girl, “You can have it all,”over a trip-hop beat that slows down to his soft singing over a piano.

‘Life of the Party’ is probably the most sinister sounding song on the project and might take some replays to really enjoy; others may never open up to it because of how dark it sounds.

‘Thursday’, the eponymous song of the mixtape, sets the mood with a slower beat that sounds beautiful in combination with Tesfaye’s voice, expressing that Thursday is the day where people are craving for the weekend to come, and will have many people disregarding the rest of the week.

‘

The Zone’ has garnered the most attention on Thursday, likely because of a solid guest-appearance by hip-hop heavyweight Drake, but make no mistake that this song is still fully in The Weeknd’s control. He frequently croons over a deep, slow bass filled with synths about how the drugs he’s on has him so out of it that he’s in a zone where his senses are completely numb.

‘The Birds Part 1’ was released as a buzz single by the Weeknd’s camp a couple of months ago and still sounds very good in comparison to the rest of Thursday with an up-tempo variation of drums in the background. ‘The Birds Part 2’ is a much slower ballad full of lyrics about pills, overdose, and falling out of love, but as depressing as the song might be it is still a great song that will have people wondering what really goes on in the singer’s life.

‘Gone’ is definitely in the competition for best song. Broken up into two parts, the first has the Weeknd singing to a girl about how he’s been faded on alcohol and high since before she even showed up. It contains a slow sounding melody with xylophonic chimes mixed along a bass sounding like it came straight from a James Blake song. The second part slows down to a snail’s pace with a very basic drum sound in the background as he sings to her about letting things flow.

‘Rolling Stone’ is track no. 8 and if you hadn’t heard the lead single off the mixtape

before Thursday was released you might love the simple sound of the highly sensual

song more than any other. The acoustic guitar in the background in combination

with Tesfaye’s voice and metaphoric lyrics is a surefire favorite.

‘Heaven or Las Vegas’, the last song on the project sounds like a much darker and updated version of an old Bob Marley song, giving off a chill reggae like beat with and electric guitar coming in on the hook to really add an impressive and unique sound. The vibe will frequently make you forget Tesfaye is singing about serotonin and ecstasy and is probably more in love with drugs than any girl he’s come across.

Overall, Thursday is a very haunting, drug-influenced project that may be hard to wrap your brain around the first couple of listens. But the vibe is great and while you may get some looks for putting this on at a party, it is still a must-listen. The Weeknd and his production team of Illangelo and Doc McKinney deserve a lot of credit because of their sole production of the project and for bringing a new sound to 2011.