The contemporary artist Stevie Nicks called “over talented”
No artist is required to keep up with the times after becoming famous. They’ve already conquered the business once, and if acts like AC/DC can spend time playing the same type of music until the sun burns out of the sky, it’s completely fine for anyone else to do whatever they want to. Stevie Nicks never claimed to be a one-trick pony when it came to her songs, though, and she knew there was something special going on with The Weeknd when she first heard him.
Then again, it would be fairly obvious that Abel Tesfaye at least had a good track record for great tunes before he had even hit the big time. His series of EPs before Kiss Land contains the most heartbreaking experiences that he would ever make while also being absolutely terrifying in terms of its take on partying and drug dependency.
But comparing The Weeknd to Stevie Nicks is the same as comparing Merle Haggard to Tupac. Nicks was interested in creating unforgettable sonic vignettes whenever she performed songs, but there is at least a little bit of connective tissue binding them together: raw emotion.
If you listen to both The Weeknd and Nicks’ songs, not all of them can claim to have many chord changes. That’s just the bed for them to put their melodies on top of, and whenever they say what’s on their mind, they’re letting listeners in on personal moments most would be too scared to share, like when Nicks talks about her struggles with losing a friend on ‘Gypsy’ or Tesfaye nearly breaking down in tears on ‘Until I Bleed Out’.
Looking at raw singing ability, Nicks thought no one else could compare to what he was doing, telling Q, “I’ve been listening to The Weeknd’s records. I play them one after the other when I’m in my bathroom getting ready to go out, or just hanging out with myself. He’s brilliant. And his voice – he could have come straight out of 1975 – he could have been like Stevie Winwood. He’s over-talented.”
Although Nicks continues to stick with her traditional rock and roll format on her solo records, The Weeknd may have taken a few hints from how she writes. Yes, he has been compared to Michael Jackson more than a few times, but he seemed to model himself more on Prince, and given that ‘The Purple One’ had worked with Nicks on a handful of occasions, Tesfaye may have been bumping ‘Stand Back’ just as much as he was ‘Purple Rain’.
While it’s one thing to appreciate the new school, Nicks has been walking it as she talks it. Aside from heaping praise on contemporary acts in rock and roll like HAIM, her appearance on the latest Gorillaz album, Cracker Island, shows that she’s at least willing to bend her sound a little bit to see where it goes.
Because one’s artistry isn’t suddenly over the minute that they get their gold records. Art is about evolution, and while Nicks is still the same ‘Gold Dust Woman’ we all know, maybe artists like The Weeknd are showing her what can happen when someone approaches raw emotion from a different angle.
