It seems that The Weeknd has been vindicated.
Full story below…
The ‘After Hours’ superstar has been on the receiving end of vitriol launched at him by Usher fans after he claimed that the singer used his sound to craft his last hit single ‘Climax.’
His belief was that his ideas, like those of many other lesser known artists at the time, were being used to inject new energy into established artists.
Today, after Usher seemed to bark back with this video, Diplo (the song’s producer) confirmed that he did in fact use Weeknd as a mood board when tasked with building a new sound for his ‘Caught Up’ collaborator.
the production on Climax lends itself to House of Balloons era @theweeknd. when I heard those early records they blew my mind – soulful in their silences, and a spacey iconic voice that felt uniquely internet. the idea of R&B having dark edges was what I wanted to bring to @usher
— Thomas Wesley (@diplo) April 9, 2020
Mr. ‘Balloons’ isn’t the first musician to run into a problem like this.
one of my favorite voices of all time. I'm glad @usher, Ariel, Eric, and I all got together to make that epic song. I remember I had the title of the song before I had the beat. It was conceptual from the beginning.
— Thomas Wesley (@diplo) April 9, 2020
For, there are some Pop culture critics who believe Miley Cyrus‘ ‘Bangers‘ era syphoned looks and sounds from Kreayshawn and the White Girl Mob movement and that Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy’ visual was inspired by art created by Ebony Bones.
Diplo slobbing on Abel’s knob I see
f^ck you Dip. the track sounds nothing like Abel
Looking 4 Myself went Gold…y’all acting like that ish went multi platinum and was near and dear to your heart like, “That’s the love right there” ? It ain’t that DEEP! ?
https://tenor.com/view/the-weeknd-abel-tesfaye-gif-5211393
SCREAMING ? Don’t mess with Abel ??
https://tenor.com/view/after-hours-the-weeknd-abel-abel-tesfaye-smiley-tesfaye-gif-16494269
I see Diplo over here slumming for his next producing credit.
He’s lying. The similarity isn’t there at all. It’s just more beneficial for him to attach himself to all the hype and convince other artists that he can duplicate a #1 sound right now.
Go read what Diplo said in 2012 about Climax here (that he took his inspiration from minimalist techno & Atlanta stripclubs music, not from Abel) :
https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/09/weeknd-recalls-anger-hearing-ushers-climax-sound-12530856/
Now ask yourself why that producer, who works now for The Weeknd (Diplo has just finished the remixes of Blinding lights for the expanded edition of After Hours), has changed his tune :
https://variety.com/2020/music/news/usher-weeknd-climax-challenge-1234575872/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Diplo is a liar who says whatever pleases his client of the moment, especially if that client is “hot” on the charts.
Honestly… Diplo is pretty classy — stroked that ego enough to put out a fire. Smart smart smart.