Maps of Music

Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)

Where the lyrics of Beauty Behind the Madness take you, and where it was really made.

His previous album Kiss Land charted at number 2, yet he judged it a commercial underperformance, and that disappointment pushed the Weeknd toward pop.

Key places

Recorded at Conway Recording Studios (2015)

Recording site Conway Recording Studios — The album was recorded at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles. The marker uses the studio building's location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Abel's Crib in Toronto (2015)

Recording site Abel's Crib — Part of the album was recorded at Abel's Crib in Toronto. The marker uses the studio building's location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Jungle City Studios in New York (2015)

Recording site Jungle City Studios — The album was recorded at Jungle City Studios in New York City. The marker uses the studio building's location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded in Santa Monica (2015)

Recording site Ruby Red — Part of the album was recorded at The Lab in Santa Monica, California. The marker sits at the city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded in Stockholm (2015)

Recording site Master Plan — Part of the album was recorded at Wolf Cousins in Stockholm. The marker sits at the city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Beauty Behind the Madness: second studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd
• Released August 28, 2015, through XO and Republic Records
• Guest appearances from Labrinth, Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey
• Executive produced by the Weeknd, DaHeala and Illangelo
• Production also credited to Kanye West, Stephan Moccio, Ben Billions, DannyBoyStyles, Max Martin and Ali Payami, among others
• Five singles released from the album
• Includes the Academy Award-nominated "Earned It", lead single from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack

Background

• The Weeknd was known for dark R&B through his first three mixtapes and the debut album Kiss Land
• Kiss Land (2013) was reviewed positively and charted at number 2 on the Billboard 200
• The Weeknd considered Kiss Land a commercial underperformance because it failed to produce successful singles and expand his fanbase
• He asked Republic Records' head of urban A&R, Wendy Goldstein, for help
• Goldstein arranged a meeting with Max Martin, which led to the song "Love Me Harder" (released September 30, 2014)
• "Love Me Harder" reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first top ten single
• Realizing he could make pop music in his own way, he secured Martin as producer for his next project
• Critics described a clear move from alt-R&B toward a more mainstream pop sound, with some original elements kept

Recording

• The first session with Martin began in fall 2014 at Martin's complex
• Martin's team had pre-written material, but Martin rejected it and wrote entirely new songs
• The first song Martin and the Weeknd wrote was "In the Night"
• Illangelo, who worked on the first three mixtapes, was credited on 7 of the 14 tracks
• "The Hills" was recorded at the Weeknd's home studio

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Abel Tesfaye, born February 16, 1990, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada; Ethiopian immigrant parents
• Began releasing music anonymously on YouTube in 2009; stage name derived from a weekend moved to Parkdale
• Co-founded the XO record label in 2011 with Wassim Slaiby, Amir Esmailian and La Mar Taylor

Members

• Solo artist; collaborators include producers Illangelo and Doc McKinney, and creative director La Mar Taylor

Career

• Debut mixtape House of Balloons (2011), followed by Thursday and Echoes of Silence; compiled into Trilogy (2012) after signing with Republic Records
• Studio albums Kiss Land (2013), Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), Starboy (2016), After Hours (2020), Dawn FM (2022), Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025)
• Blinding Lights named the best-performing song in Billboard Hot 100 history; first artist to surpass 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify
• Headlined the Super Bowl LV halftime show (2021); After Hours til Dawn Tour set a record for highest-grossing tour by a male soloist
• Co-created and starred in HBO series The Idol (2023) and the film Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025)
• Named UN World Food Programme goodwill ambassador in 2021

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number one in several countries
• Metacritic: average score of 74 based on 26 professional reviews
• Sheldon Pearce of The A.V. Club: the album closes the gap between the Weeknd's perception and his reality
• Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune: the Weeknd aims for harder truths, with pop that also comments on choice and consequence
• Mackenzie Herd of Exclaim!: the Weeknd can thrive in the mainstream and has proven more versatile than previously thought
• Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly: listeners expecting homages to Michael Jackson will be disappointed, with the strongest songs standing apart from the rest
• April Clare Welsh of NME: the Weeknd softened his edge and pulled in stars, yet remains an outsider
• Andrew Ryce of Pitchfork: enjoying the Weeknd requires buying into his bad-guy persona, and the album is richer and smarter than ever for newcomers
• Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone: the sound widened and brightened in spots, but the Weeknd still carries a serious Eeyore vibe
• Harley Brown of Spin: the album is front-loaded with fresh directions that make him sound like he is enjoying himself
• Andy Kellman of AllMusic: commercial strides are obvious, while creative advancements are less apparent

Records

• Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 412,000 album-equivalent units, including 326,000 copies sold in the first week
• First number-one album in the United States for the Weeknd
• Remained at number one for the next two weeks, the first album to spend three consecutive weeks at number one since Taylor Swift's 1989
• Spent 21 consecutive weeks in the Billboard 200 top 10
• Tenth best-selling album of 2015 worldwide according to the IFPI, with 1.5 million copies sold
• As of August 2017, 3.7 million equivalent album units in the United States, including 1.23 million traditional album sales
• Most-streamed album of 2015 and fifth most-streamed album of 2016 on Spotify
• At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in 2016, won Best Urban Contemporary Album and was nominated for Album of the Year

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Illangelo attained production credits for 7 of the 14 tracks on the album
• "Tell Your Friends" was produced by Kanye West and samples "Can't Stop Loving You" by Soul Dog
• "Often" samples "Ben Sana Vurgunum" performed by Nükhet Duru
• According to Moccio, the chords of "Real Life" were taken from the 1954 jazz standard "Misty"
• Moccio presented "Angel", which had pre-recorded vocals from American singer Maty Noyes, to the Weeknd, who liked the track
• The Madness Fall Tour, his first arena tour, was announced in support of the album on August 20, 2015

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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