The Weeknd Celebrates 5th Anniversary Of ‘Kiss Land’ Debut With Reissue
It was the album that launched his career into the stratosphere, and now five years later, The Weeknd’s Kiss Land is getting a limited-edition double LP reissue on green color vinyl.
It was the album that launched his career into the stratosphere, and now five years later, The Weeknd’s Kiss Land is getting a limited-edition double LP reissue on green color vinyl via Urban Legends/UMe.
The R&B star also dropped a limited-edition line of merch in honour the album’s 5th anniversary, boasting the same anime-inspired, Japanophile design.
Despite being his major label debut, Kiss Land is a post-fame album, a collection of dark and seductive slow jams that captures the isolation and hedonism of life on the road and gives rise to a new form of modern R&B.
Fuelled by the success of the singles, ‘Belong to the World’, ‘Love In The Sky’ and the titular track ‘Kiss Land’, the album shot to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 within its first week and established the modern R&B crooner as a star in his own right who had evolved beyond guest appearances.
The album was a commercial and critical smash, with the New York Times describing the appeal of the Weeknd’s distinctive voice as:
“It has an ethereal placelessness that’s made him one of the most striking and distinctive young forces in pop music, even more noteworthy because he’s almost impossible to mimic.”
Kiss Land also saw Abel Tesfaye take more creative control, producing the record almost entirely himself, with additional contributions by DannyBoyStyles, Sebastian Tellier, frequent Action Bronson collaborator, Harry Fraud and Pharrell.
The album was the harbinger of where R&B was headed, pairing falsetto croons with dark synths and drum-laden club anthems like ‘Live For’ featuring Drake.
The Weeknd would go on to release two more studio albums and his recent EP, My Dear Melancholy this past March, as well as collaborate with the likes of Lana Del Rey, Future, Travis Scott, and Kendrick Lamar to name a few, but Kiss Land serves as the starting point of where it all began.
The Weeknd’s Kiss Land starts shipping 15 October. Scroll down to read the full tracklist and pre-order here.
Side A
1. Professional
2. The Town
Side B
1. Adaptation
2. Love In The Sky
3. Belong To The World
Side C
1. Live For
2. Wanderlust
3. Kiss Land
Side D
1. Pretty
2. Tears In The Rain
UK English
