疯狂过后的美丽 (2015)

Beauty Behind the Madness is the second studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd. It was released on August 28, 2015, through XO and Republic Records. It features guest appearances from Labrinth, Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey. The album was executively produced by the Weeknd, DaHeala and Illangelo, and includes production from Kanye West, Stephan Moccio, Ben Billions, DannyBoyStyles, Max Martin, and Ali Payami, among others.

Five singles were released from Beauty Behind the Madness, including two US Billboard Hot 100 number-ones: "The Hills" and "Can't Feel My Face". The album also includes the Academy Award-nominated track "Earned It", which served as the lead single from the soundtrack to Fifty Shades of Grey. Beauty Behind the Madness received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number one in several countries. It marked the Weeknd's first number-one album in the United States, earning 412,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. It was the tenth best-selling album of 2015, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, with 1.5 million copies sold worldwide. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in 2016, Beauty Behind the Madness won Best Urban Contemporary Album and was nominated for Album of the Year.

Background and development

The Weeknd was recognized for his dark R&B music until 2015, seen in his first three mixtapes, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, all released in 2011, and his debut studio album, Kiss Land. Released in 2013, Kiss Land was reviewed positively by critics, and charted at number 2 on the Billboard 200. Despite this, the Weeknd deemed it a commercial underperformance, due to its failure to spawn successful singles and expand his fanbase. In his disappointment, the Weeknd approached Republic Records' head of urban A&R, Wendy Goldstein, for assistance.

Goldstein arranged a meeting between the Weeknd, American singer Ariana Grande and Swedish producer Max Martin, for the song "Love Me Harder", released on September 30, 2014. The Weeknd was unsure of the single's success, until it reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first top ten single. Realizing he could make pop music in his own way, the Weeknd secured Martin as a producer for his next project, desiring songs like "Love Me Harder". Their first session together begun sometime in the fall of 2014, in Martin's complex. Martin's team initially had pre-written material for the Weeknd, but he rejected all of it, opting to write entirely new material instead. The first song Martin and the Weeknd wrote was "In the Night", and they worked on the song with Ali Payami, Savan Kotecha, and Peter Svensson. While working together, Payami found inspiration in modern disco influenced tracks, which led to the creation of "Can't Feel My Face".