Released two days before
the Weeknd
provided the halftime entertainment at Super Bowl LV,
The Highlights
also happened to arrive near the tenth anniversary of
House of Balloons
, the singer's debut mixtape. Considering where he's gone in that time, from a shadowy unknown to a global pop star, there's no knocking the impulse to look back. In February 2021,
was still deep in the promotional cycle for
After Hours
, but it's nonetheless surprising that more selections are from that album -- including three singles that went Top Ten in his native Canada and the U.S. -- than any other
Weeknd
release.
Beauty Behind the Madness
and
Starboy
, the two previous number one albums, are also well represented, leaving the remainder to be drawn from
and the
My Dear Melancholy,
EP (while the second and third tapes and
Kiss Land
are shut out). This also gathers the hits that originated on the soundtracks for
Fifty Shades of Grey
Black Panther
, plus the
Ariana Grande
duet "Love Me Harder."
is a well-selected point of entry. That it rarely dips into album cuts and doesn't include all of the major singles speaks to the depth of the catalog. ~ Andy Kellman