The Weeknd - Kissland Album (Reaction) 

Timestamps!!! Professional :55 The Town 12:29 Adaptation 22:44 Love In the Sky 34:21 Belong to the World 44:14 Live For 55:54 Wanderlust 1:04:11 Kissland 1:13:12 Pretty 1:27:30 Tears in the Rain 1:34:24 Enjoy! Bye!!!

I HATE WATCHING PEOPLE REACTING TO THE WEEKND ALBUMS AND JUST SKIP THORUGH SOME PARTS IN THE VID I LIKE HOW YOU REACTED TO EVERYTHING. AS A XO FAN IT MAKES ME SMILE. XO4LIFE

Every time he hears a harmony: ⚪👄⚪

I didn't like Kissland in the beginning, but it has grown on me so hard in the past.. I assume I was too stuck in the Trilogy vibe and expected more "dark vibe" from Kissland (obv. influenced from Trilogy) But, as soon as you get into the Kissland vibe you start to apprectiate this album so much... *Music can be so fascinating* And that's why we love it!

this is such a masterpiece 😭😭 You're the only one who listens to the whole music with the lyrics 🙏🙏 gr8 reaction buddy 🖤🖤💚💚

I remember Weeknd once said in an interview that he doesn't give too much of him and that is the reason why his career might last long coz he is giving of himself slowly through his music and I'm cool with that!!

Oh man of Wanderlust is up your alley you are going to love Weeknd’s new sound. After Hours is his newest album and mixes his dark sound with an 80’s flavor

Also, "I'm a little camera shy" isn't a lie. His first time in public as an artist was his performance at The Mod Club in Toronto in July of 2011, well after his songs debuted the year before on RU-vid. Trilogy mixtapes put him as a mainstream artist before he ever stepped on a single stage. You should watch that performance as it's his very first performance ever, and he's drunk as hell the entire performance.

Most indepth reaction I've seen!! Definitely gotta sub!!

Alternate title - Joaquin Phoenix reacts to The Weeknd- KissLand Album

I'd listen to Take Care or Nothing Was the Same to get a feel for a Drake sound you'd probably like. If you want to test it out before committing to a full album, i'd listen to Too Much or From Time

damn I watched many kissland reactions since it is one of my favorite albums of all time. This is definetly one of the best reaction I watched so far. very liked how detailed you shared your interpretations. Keep it up. XOTWOD from Germany

Kissland is about the same girl, the songs in order are the story of the relationship and if you want to understand the whole story you need to react to the videoclip of pretty, is one of the bests videoclips of the weeknd

Didn’t think I’d comment twice, but here I am about to be vulnerable. Ok, for me this album was my introduction to The Weeknd. I heard trilogy in pieces and I wasn’t a fan of the falsetto at the time, but I remember one day around 2013 some of the songs from the album came on at work while I was playing pandora and I was blown away by the production. I decided to buy the album and listen to it, and at that same time there was an Asian transfer student that came to one of my classes. She had this incredible sense of style and for some odd reason she would always play around with me. I was so confused, but the more she did it, I slowly started to develop an attraction towards her. At this time, I would listen to the album after class on my way home and picked up on themes about a girl. It wasn’t until I saw the video for “belong to the world” and saw the Asian influence in the video, and all throughout the album art for the single I was locked in. Slowly this album became tied with my feelings for this girl and the parallels of Asian culture. Now it’s to the point where there’s so much nostalgia I can’t stop thinking about that time when I hear that album. It was almost serendipitous that I discovered it during that time. I remember playing that album one day in my room and became consumed by it, playing The town nonstop, picturing a movie in my head while listening to it. The most strangest part for me was Wanderlust remix, that upbeat tempo just reminded me of her and the lyrics just drew me in, I must’ve played that record the most. Everything else was just icing on top because the mood captured how I was feeling, making me fall in love with the album while I was catching feelings for that girl. That’s why I have so much nostalgia and attachment for this album. I’ve had similar time stamp experiences since with his future releases, but this one hit me the hardest!!

Kissland was my introduction to the weeknd i just broke up with my girl after 4 year man song like professional , adaptation , love in the sky , pretty , tears in the rain all some up how i was feeling at the time , this album has a special place in my heart

I think a lot of people really love Kissland for the cinematic point of view. Personally I feel he's talking about a lot of the same things as he did throughout Trilogy, but it feels so much bigger from a production standpoint as apposed to the stripped back/raw theme you see throughout Trilogy. You can tell he experimented with a lot of different sounds throughout this record and I appreciate that. I think it was done beautifully. It made you realize he is capable of creating different worlds of music that still sound amazing. With that being said, I don't know where I rank this album but it's right up there with Trilogy for me, as well as After Hours!(which I'm excited for you to get to at some point)

Also to go over the camera shy point, The Weeknd used to use drugs or alcohol when performing on stage so he would feel more confident, until he realized looking back at his performances that he didn't like how he was performing. Also he's only done like one or two video interviews his whole career.

The song kissland to me is his best song of all time there’s no competition when it comes to production and toxicity

Bro, I really liked your analysis bro. You really went for the story behind the songs. I really enjoyed. I'm a big Kiss Land fan and I loved this video.

Kiss Land is like Trilogy, but there’s a major difference - his fame and lifestyle. Trilogy makes it very apparent that he has a lot of freedom and control of his life. Very nonchalant and crazy. But Kiss Land adds the aspect of his career and the stress of the media. You get his typical love life stuff, but he constantly says that “he was gone” or “he can’t be with some because he had to go live his life on tour and in the studio”. ~ LITERALLY every track involves his “new life”. He’s also extremely vulnerable in this album. The album also has a story to it. Some tracks talk about a prostitute (made clear in Belong to the World) he met and fell in love with. They were very similar and genuinely felt love for each other. He knew he shouldn’t be with her because both of their lives and career pull them apart. However he cannot help loving her. He then leaves on tour and once he comes back home, he finds out she’s “cheated” on him and "kills" her. He has no one else to love and he will forever be loveless and alone. ----- Notable quotes: “I’ve been trying to get this money like I got a couple kids who rely on me. [The rest of the song is him OBSESSING over this girl and is kind of manipulative]” - The Town “I think I lost the only piece that held it all in place. Now my madness is the only love I let myself embrace... I could’ve stayed but I chose the life... then I realized she might’ve been the one... I made a trade, gave away our days just for a little fame... but it’s okay, I’ve adapted anyways (he has to hold his feelings in so that media doesn’t see. This is sign of depression and how he uses drugs to numb his pain and sadness. He also blames himself for everything and thinks he’s crazy)” - Adaptation (the most emotional track) "Been flying around the world I been killing these shows But I’m always getting high because my confidence is low (he’s insecure and more drug addiction to numb) And I’m always in a rush, ain’t no time to f*ck slow (his love life is affected by his work life)” - Love In the Sky “The way you doubt your feelings and look the other way, well it’s something I relate to (he has a hard time with being in relationships and expressing his full vulnerable emotions) I’m not a fool, I just love that your dead inside. I’m not a fool, I’m just lifeless too... you taught me how to feel, what nobody ever could. Girl I want to embrace you... but you belong to the world (and so does he now) You’ve been the only one to make me smile in so long I’ve succumbed to what I’ve become (he admits his behavior is wrong)” - Belong to the World (this supports the fact that the girl is a prostitute) “You’re in love with something bigger than love... You believe in something stronger than love... They’re in love with this idea of love... It’s a shame that they’ll believe that it’ll come Wanderlust, wanderlust (wanderlust is the the desire Abel says to be to travel the world and find the one for the woman he’s talking about. In reality, isn’t he in wanderlust too?)” - Wanderlust (metaphorical & misleadingly happy-sounding) “I went from starring at the same four walls for 21 years To seeing the whole world in just twelve months [Talks more about his risky life, drug addiction, and partying]” - Kiss Land (A upbeat version of Glass Table Girls LOL) “So now that she’s gone. Embrace all that comes. And die with a smile, don’t show the world how alone you’ve become They all feel the same, adjust to the fame ‘cause no one will love you like her It’s pointless, like tears in the rain” - Tears in the Rain No one one really knew how Abel looked like barely until 2011-2012 and his mixtapes were already out and about. So he was camera shy. Kiss Land is a land of nightmares shrouded in the projection of success, love, and fame. (I recommend watching Belong to the World and Pretty music video. They support the narrative of the background story) Note: the art of the album is very much inspired by Japanese night life, Japanese writing, neon colors, and cities. Which is why you hear Japanese language in Pretty. *This album is from 2013 and obviously Abel’s life has changed quite a bit*

I don't remember who said this best.. maybe Jon Denton? Can't remember.. Something like: "Trilogy felt like it (the darkness/energy) was very confined, like it was contained in a House (House of Balloons) or something. This (Kiss Land) feels like that energy got out and is seeping out of the house and into the streets, into every alley, the whole city" or something like that - not an exact quote... and I agree with him. What do you think? Also, favorite song of the album? If I had to choose, probably Kiss Land. :P

ah i was waiting for this one!! my fav tracks are probably kiss land and the town. also if you’re considering doing beauty behind the madness next maybe listen to the song ‘king of the fall’ first since he dropped that right before bbtm

always love your reactions! I thoroughly enjoyed it when his MJ vocals hit you during Wanderlust! I’d be really interested to see you do a full Lana Del Rey album reaction, a lot of her music has that juxtaposition too, kind of ‘wrong’ lyrics that you can’t help fall in love with. But I appreciate how much time it takes to do album reactions, so single tracks is great too!

Kisslnd is amazing. Love in the sky is my favourite

Hey man, just wanted to tell you to keep doing what you do, this is one of the best reactions out there :)

Im pretty sure the "precious little diamond" is a reference to diamond flake coke and how he needs it to love the girl who is also his precious little diamond. Same as love in tthe sky: "well find our love in the sky" basically means we will love each other when we are high

Awesome reaction! Next is BBTM (Beauty Behind The Madness)

This is my favorite Weeknd album-I found it right at the end of a relationship and the rawness of the lyrics helped me get my confidence back

I'm excited for you to continue with his discography but I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL AFTER HOURS 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

its so underrated bruh been listening to it for years bro every single day

Pausing during the adaption breakdown 29:03 is criminal !

GGP when he said I’ma little camera shy. He was talking about ppl taking pictures and videos of him. He didn’t do any interviews with anyone until after he did his 3rd album BBTM when he really started getting recognition from the WORLD for his music And yes Abel is one of the Biggest stars on earth!

My favorite track here is the title track KissLand. His wordplay is dope. First time I heard him say "when she put it in her mouth she can't seem to reach my..." And the next word he says is something to do with balls or balling. Still, when he teased the release of this album and teased Kiss Land, he debuted the second half of the song under the name "John Carpenter" after the creater of Halloween. One of the best drops/beat switches I've ever heard. He said he wanted this album to be like a horror movie (hence the screaming that made you nervous lol), and it's a beautiful one at that. As a matter of fact. When you finish the discography, return to his songs and react to the rest of his music videos. You have to see Pretty and a later track called In Your Eyes. Heavily horror inspired. It's nothing to relate to...

back to your question about what is everyone's favourite song on the album. even though it might be an opinion for everyone but i believe everyone would agree on tears in the rain, simply

Take Care - Drake. Weeknd helped him on the album and is on a couple tracks. Good album

Always come back to this one, everything about this just makes me so happy hahahaha

The reason why i genuinely love this album is because it gets better with every listen. I pick up on different production, lyrics, connections within the project. I also found this album to be incredibly relatable from the girls perspective and i haven’t found this material with any other artist. It’s dark, honest, and real. His voice is so powerful and yet vulnerable at some moments. I also really love dissecting this project, finding meanings behind different lines. It’s a very cinematic experience

Thank you for this!!! Love that there aren’t any cuts, and thank god it hasn’t been claimed

OOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!! Ohhhhhh this is so good to see in my suggested, you just made my day a lot better, and I really needed it

Yooo amazing , you should do Beauty Behind The Madness next :D

Great video sir, we appreciate your time. This is my interpretation of KISS LAND and its narrative Characters - The Weeknd, The muse (prostitute), Valerie (his old girl) Professional - Intro to the various concept of the album. One of the concepts being the muse, he “falls in love” with this prostitute. In the song Abel tells her all the things mentioned in the lyrics trying to convince her to be with him. but in many ways a lot of these things he tells her also apply to him. Much of it is metaphor about The Weeknd. The Town - Flash back. The Weeknd reminiscing his old relationship, his old girl from the town. The one he had before he went on tour, maybe this is even Valerie. and he wants her to let him back in to her life, he also mentions that she now has a new man...she is in love with :/ Adaptation - him realizing he ruined his chances with Valerie, trading all their days for a little fame and fun. The Weeknd realizing that she might have been “the one” but nonetheless its ok he's adapted anyway lol Love in the sky - The Weeknd invites a prostitute into his place to forget about his feelings and enjoy the life he chose. I could be wrong here but I think in a way he’s using the prostitute to make to love Valerie through her. the whole “I’ll be making love to her through you” idea The Weeknd has played with in the past. And this could be some really good character development because The Weeknd on Thursday uses Valerie to make love to some other girl (the zone). But who knows. Anyways at the end of the song The Weeknd starts asking the prostitute if being with him has made world look smaller. Essentially trying to convince her to stop living the life she leads and just be with only him. Either ways he feels like he has control over her body because of how good he is in bed lmao. A storm starts brewing at the end of the song Belong to the world - Thunder strikes and it begins to storm. The Weeknd now realizes that the prostitute belongs to the world and that she will never be his. It’s impossible for her to settle with just 1 man. But he feels so attached because she taught him to love/feel when no one else could and when no one else would. Especially after being able to have any girl he wants he can't wrap his head around this girl not wanting him. The irony is he seeks intimacy with a prostitute of all people and I believe the sub text is that the principles of this way he lives his life now is a lot similar to that of a sex worker. This song maybe the most profound song in The Weeknd’s entire discography or at least one of them. There are quite a few entendres and metaphors happening here. • 1st meaning, the story between him and the muse. Where he realizes she could never be his. She is here only for short-lived passion, she is only there to fulfill the momentary needs of people in the world. • 2nd meaning, The Weeknd as an artist on tour feels similar. He compares his status as a hyped rising artist who has lots of fans to a sex worker with many customers. When he does these shows every night on tour he belongs to the world. He is no longer a just Abel Tesfaye he is The Weeknd. A larger than life figure that makes other people happy regardless of what’s happening in his personal life/feelings, he is a professional and this is his job. he depends on the wealth of his fans to make a living. If you look at the context of the album and even trilogy, he's a rolling stone he has no home. He has no real love or intimacy in his life during kiss land. He "lost the only piece that held it all in place" and now his life has become madness; the only stability and routine he has left in life is doing these concerts and shows every night. He shares his life and at times intimate parts of his life with the world by choice. • 3rd meaning, this is from the perspective of a music fan. For the avid fan going to these concerts of his are like "temporary moments of a dream" when he performs for them. I'm sure he saw a lot of fans on tour that shared these type of sentiments with him and how much his words mean to them. --- “Live For” because it doesn’t really add anything to the narrative other than him reiterating the tour life. Which he does better on other songs and Abel didn’t even play “live for” on the kissland edition of memento mori...that says something lol either ways OVOXO is awesome but this song isn’t really necessary--- Wanderlust - This whole song has a theme of never settling and traveling around looking for more. Never being fulfilled due to not knowing exactly what one is looking for •1st meaning, The Weeknd telling a girl that he’s willing to give her everything. She is the precious little diamond. This may even still be the prostitute he’s talking to, even after realizing that she could never be his. He still desires to be with her exclusively. “Tonight imma love you, and tmmrw you won’t care” • 2nd meaning, the industry telling Abel to not be apprehensive. Don’t be afraid to fully embrace being The Weeknd, he is a precious diamond with loads of potential similar to some lines on “professional”. With this entendre he compares the music industry to prostitution again with how artists have their moments of fame/success but ultimately the industry will always move on and it’s only temporary “love”, professional “love”. • 3rd meaning, Abel talking about how LOVE and TRUST have been commercialized to the point that human beings are confused what they are even looking for. Which leads us to wander around and not want to settle because ultimately what we end up looking for isn’t even love or trust if we believe what we are sold. “ They're in love with this idea of love It's a shame that they'll believe it will come For us all, For us all” Abel saying so many people grow up buying this idea of “love” that they are sold. Essentially him saying it’s sad that so many people think that they will all be rich, famous, successful, and have this “love”. And when those desires aren’t fulfilled people spend their lives wandering around not knowing what they are looking for. And he compares being on tour to wandering. He’s still a rolling stone even though he’s not financially struggling anymore. Kiss land - The way I see the 1st half of this song is him hitting the stage in crazed state of mind where he just looking for pleasure and a wild time. The Weeknd flexing the power he now has, telling girls that he can change their whole life if he wanted to and that he can take them on tour with him. 2nd half of the song is a more introspective, urgent, and self aware meditation of the exact same situation as the first half of the song. He’s basically listing down all the wild things he’s done on tour. And this maybe the dirtiest song on the album, easily the most explicit. The Weeknd showing us the truth about what and where kiss land is. Kiss land is evil and deceptive . A place that makes him forget who he is and lose his boundaries/identity. One that brings honest horror and paranoia; we could infer he is saying being a professional touring artist in the music industry could have this effect on a person. Being in Kiss land living the life has certainly given him an identity crisis; even going back to track #1 professional where he tells The Muse that and a lot what he says on that track is not only about the muse but also about himself. Having an identity crisis while being in kiss land is a recipe for disaster and only fuels his self destructive tendencies. The idea of no stability and having no home is supported by the lines "I got a brand new place, I think I've seen it twice all year I can't remember how it looks inside So you can picture how my life's been I went from starin' at the same four walls for twenty-one years To seein' the whole world in just twelve months" PRETTY - after all that....The Weeknd says screw it and decides leave “kiss land” to go pay his old girl a visit in the town. The music video is essentially the story of this track. Tears in the rain - perfect closer..to this cinematic journey of an album. The Weeknd finally realizing he’s gone too far and done something that he can never take back. He understands no girl will ever love him like Valerie did. He mentions how he’s already felt that real LOVE but he let it die. Now every girl feels the same. He feels like his tears are pointless because he brought all this pain on himself. He tells himself he’ll never feel true LOVE again, he tells him self he deserves to be alone as a punishment for his actions. He feels like it’s too late to change. All that’s left to do is embrace the madness and adjust to the fame. Basically he’s lost whatever “home” he once had and now “kiss land” is all that he has left. And it’s funny he says embrace the madness and his next album title is..”.beauty behind the madness”. I don’t know y’all..coincidence? And in my interpretation. I think The Weeknd remains in “kiss land” all the way til the After hours album. After hours is the album where the Weeknd character learns it’s not other people or places he needs to Escape from but it is his own habits and patterns that need to change. If not he’ll continue to relive this toxic cycle til he dies.

Yooo ur background goes really well with the theme of kissland album😂

Your reaction is priceless man😂🙏🏻

Man I can still remember when this dropped and going on the tour. I would like to think I had those exact reactions lol.

Lol when he says be safe the next line is "I don't care about you why you worry bout me" 😂😂

this man sounds like toby maguire in the spiderman movies and i love it

This is a great reaction man, I just subbed:) This album for me personally is his best. So fucking poetic and chaotic sounding, shit takes me back to my destructive druggie ways and relationships of my freshman years. Sounds bad but the nostalgia I get from this album is insane. Glad u enjoyed it, there’s so many layers to all his music ppl tend to overlook them all. Glad you didn’t. Ps u seem like a super chill nice guy🤟🏼

XOTWOD

I remember when you first posted this and here I am, back to rewatch it 🤙😁

Great reaction! Im a have to go back and check out your trilogy reaction but I've enjoyed your commentary, much more analytical than most reaction channels but i appreciate you delve into the lyrics as much as you did

His faces just explains more than words can ever describe

you sir are gonna get alot of views on this

67 likes and 0 dislikes That's the power of xo

Take Care and Nothing Was the Same !

The second half of the town is beautiful

You’re gonna love starboy

I can’t wait o u do the After Hours album but listen to the albums in order so like after this listen to beauty behind the madness, starboy, My Dear Melancholy (EP: 6 song might not count as an album. And then after that u do after hours cuz all of his albums are like chapters they all connect as a story

love you, dude!

best reaction ever ! please keep going, we love you

I have a tattoo of tears in the rain, and I love this song sm because just the like sentence that it’s pointless just like tears in the rain, idk it scratches my brain in the right way

Honry😂live it man can’t wait to hear what you think

Its his best album

you’ve earned this sub!

He looks like young Charles Xavier from the x-men movies

Odd look is on the album too

Kissland is about the touring and adapting to the fame and such life styles.. Ma thinking

The Weeknd actually gets 60,630,499 monthly listeners on Spotify and is the most streamed artist in the world right now

Kissland has a bonus track called odd look and if you haven’t listened to it. I’d love a reaction. ITS SO GOOODD

Memento Mori episode 9 has unreleased songs from this album/ time in The Weeknd’s career. There’s a video on RU-vid of a compilation of the unreleased tracks, even if you don’t do a video reacting to it, i think you would enjoy the creative process and insight he lets us listen to!!

In these last videos I think you have gained in image quality, but be careful with the focus and unfocus because it can get a bit dizzy.

King of the fall video Next! 🙏 (released in 2014)

U have funniest face reactions 😂 i love it!

2009-2011 Drake is the best Drake. Take Care is his best album imo.

XO from Brazil!!!! 🇧🇷 Great reaction! You look like Joaquin Phoenix

You need to listen to kissland a few more times,at first I didn't like it that much but now I can put it before the mixtapes on my favourites(not the full trilogy) And please react to king of the fall before doing bbtm

been soo hype to see you do this album next is beauty behind the madness ?

You should react to either "take care" or "nothing was the same" if you wanna listen to a drake discography

Great reaction vid 👌 👍 👏 keep it up.

Ahh yes finally kissland! Not my favourite but it growed on me slowly it's just so cinematic

Fantastic album, react to Simply Red Holding back the years (Symphonica in Rosso) this is authentic live music. Thank you so much🇪🇸🎧🎶🎵

For me with kiss land at first the song kiss land was my fave because trilogy vibes (lyrics) but after like 10 listenS when you learn lyrics n that i just kinda got bare invested to the whole album (not live for just not a fan :/) n now kiss land is my 9th fave (I still loooove it x)! 1000000/10 album best ever no 🧢 tears in the rain is my fave as well! SHE HAS NO RECOLLECTION

🔥🔥 excellent reaction

2:51 is the thumbnail lol Professional will do that to you.

If you want to dive into drake I think some good ones in order are: Thank me later Take care Nothing was the same If you’re reading this it’s too late Those four you should check out after that it kinda gets real mainstream and pop music like so I think that’s why some people dislike his newer music but the old ones bang!

Pretty is my personal favorite.

Nice video sir!!

The song Kissland sound like it should’ve been on Stanley Kubricks ‘Eyes wide shut’

Take care and nothing was the same are drakes best albums for sure. It would be great if you reacted to his albums. Some of his newer stuff that you are probably familiar with doesn't reflect at all on the artist he is.

Drakes album Take Care is basically borrowed from the The Weeknd, if you like the weeknd sound i suggest listening to Take Care and going from there if you want to give Drake a chance

@51:56 sounds like the next album title 😏 XOTWOD🖤🖤🖤

Is it just me or are you giving me Joaquin Phoenix vibes?! xO Your face and expressions remind me of him.

You should watch the Music video for “Pretty” it paints the story really well

Great review 💚💚💚 XOTWOD

You really should give Drake’s Take Care a chance, The Weeknd gave him a majority of the songs production wise and you clearly like his sound, but Drake’s lines are really good too and he has some other great artists on there including The Weeknd

Drake from "Live For" sounds like the Drake on "Take Care" (Album)

if wanderlust doesn't make you wanna move, something's wrong wit u

You remind me of Joaquin Phoenix but kinda look like Christian Bale. Also since you liked wanderlust you should check out the original song it was sampled by which is precious little diamond by fox the fox.

Drake sounded like the Drake from the album ‘Nothing was the same’

I recommend you take a look at the video for Kiss Land...probably not one you can post a reaction too though

Tears in the rain is my fav