By Geoffrey Rowlands


The film adaptation of EL James’ novel promises to be one of the biggest box office successes of 2015. Music from the movie has already hit the heights. The soundtrack album has become an enormous smash while Ellie Goulding’s single, Love Me Like You Do, topped the UK chart and has now entered the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100.
Not quite so successful was the first single taken from the soundtrack album. But The Weeknd’s Earned It is still climbing the Hot 100 and has become Abel Tesfaye’s first UK top ten hit.
Unfortunately, Abel has not posted a comment about this on his social media pages. He is notoriously reluctant to give interviews and essentially communicates with fans via his Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Less reticent is a Canadian producer named Jeremy Rose, or Zodiac as he now prefers to be known. The Weeknd, or rather The Weekend as they were initially called, was originated by Jeremy in partnership with singer, rapper and songwriter Abel.
Jeremy’s idea was to create what he described as “a dark R&B project.” A chance meeting with Abel in Toronto saw him freestyle lyrics over Jeremy’s beats for the song which became What You Need. Liking what he heard, Jeremy suggested they should work together. Their collaboration spawned the aforementioned What You Need, Loft Music and The Morning, the three songs which drew so much critical acclaim for Abel as The Weeknd.
According to Jeremy, the duo parted ways after Abel pushed for things he didn’t want to do and failed to respect his opinion. Although this meant they could not continue as a musical collective, Abel still wanted Jeremy to produce his work. He was happy to do so for a fee but backed out when Abel was unwilling to pay.
The songs they had already recorded were given to Abel to do with as he pleased. The only proviso was that Jeremy should receive production credit. This did not happen when Abel, as The Weeknd, initially attracted attention with the release of his 2011 debut mixtape, “House of Balloons.”
Only after Abel signed to Republic Records and released his 2012 album, “Trilogy,” a compilation of his three mixtapes plus three new songs, did Jeremy finally receive the production and co-writing credits he deserved.
Perhaps the fallout from this controversy made Abel uncomfortable about talking to the press. Not that this has hurt either his popularity or record sales. “Trilogy” reached fourth spot on the Billboard 200 and topped the R&B chart. The follow up, “Kiss Land,” hit number two on the 200 and became his second R&B chart-topper.
MTV proclaimed Abel as “the best musical talent since Michael Jackson.” Although he is a massive Michael Jackson fan, the lyrical subject matter in most of his songs is more like those of Prince or R Kelly. This factor prompted him to describe his involvement with the Fifty Shades soundtrack as “a match made in heaven.”
The Weeknd’s singles have not been as successful as his albums. Prior to Earned It, Abel never had a solo track in the UK top 100. Only his collaboration with Ariana Grande on Love Me Harder broke into the top 50.
Thanks mainly to Ariana’s popularity, this track became a Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit. Abel’s only previous hit was his 2012 debut single, Wicked Games, which reached number 53. Often, a song originally released last summer, gained attention on the back of Love Me Harder and Earned It and has since peaked at number 59.
There is undoubtedly much more to come from The Weeknd. It would be helpful if he talked to the press but Abel marked his recent birthday by posting a message of intent on Facebook. It read, “There was a point in my life when I didn’t think I’d make it this far, let alone be this accomplished. But my biggest gift at 25 years old is the feeling of not accomplishing enough.”