Artist: Weekend
Title: Welcome to the Real World
Genre(s): Pop, Rock, Electropop, Synthpop
Length: 46:02
Writers: D.Blue-Conners, R.Hamilton, B.Holmes, O.Ward, S.Wellington
Producers: Dustyn Blue-Conners, Riley Hamilton, Billy Holmes, Andrew Watt, LosOscuros, Cutfather, Freedo
Executive Producers: Weekend
Format(s): CD, LP, Digital Download, Streaming, Cassette
Label: Five Pesky Kids
Singles Released: Victory [#1], Our Song [#1], Be A Man [#1], Hard [#1]
Welcome to the Real World is the third studio album from Australian-British-Irish, Weekend. Including the repackaging of their debut album, this serves as the group's fourth full-length release. The record was written entirely by the members of the band themselves; Dustyn Blue-Conners, Riley Hamilton, Billy Holmes, Oscar Ward and Scott Wellington, marking their first effort without any additional songwriters. Long-term partners and production duo, LosOscuros worked with the band yet again, while Cutfather, Freedo and Andrew Watt entered the fold for the first time. Blue-Conners, Hamilton and Holmes also produced tracks on the record. The entire project was executive produced by Weekend.
"Welcome to the Real World" will be released through their own label, Five Pesky Kids, and has been described as having a "rawer" and "more introspective" take in comparison to their previous efforts. The album was preceded by the release of the singles,
"Victory",
"Our Song" and
"Be A Man".
Background & DevelopmentWeekend released their second studio album,
"About Time", on July 5th 2015 and would then embark on their second world tour, the Here We Go Again tour from November 2015 to August 2016. During that time, the band continued to write and record new music. None of it was specifically for their third record but just as a means to keep ideas and creativity flowing. During the same time period, personal lives of band members had changed drastically too. Riley Hamilton began dating CMBD member Chaelin Hue, Billy married The Stat Nerds member Jerry Holmes and legally changed his surname and Scott Wellington became a father. The band made a conscious decision to walk away from writing and recording duties after the tour had wrapped up to allow each other to focus on personal matters. All previously written and recorded songs were discarded.
Production of the album officially commenced in late 2017 with the members regrouping to write and record new material. Member Scott Wellington stated that the new music was "ballsy" and dubbed it "next level Weekend". Multiple songs were registered to ASCAP with Weekend listed as the performers in early 2018, leading fans to wrongly assume that a summer release was on the cards. Nothing materialised. In July 2018, Billy Holmes tweeted "back to the drawing board", alluding to the scrapping of previously recorded material, which proved to be true. In October 2018, Holmes played a 15 second snippet of new Weekend music on his Instagram story accompanied by the caption "SOON". This was later confirmed to be a preview of the track,
"Touch & Go", which makes an appearance on the final track list.
Before the release of the lead single, Dustyn married long-term lover and ex-Juneau member Dallas Conners. The pair tied the knot in November 2018, a month before the band returned with
"Victory". The album was due for release in early 2019 but Blue-Conners asked if the project could be delayed as he feared that the intense promotional schedule would interfere with his new marriage.
On June 20th 2019, Weekend revealed the title of the album via Twitter. On the same platform, the band slowly began to reveal the artwork for the record on June 27th, showing it piece by piece before completing the artwork at midnight on June 28th. The cover is noted for its "brash" and "shocking" design, moving away from the more conservative and understated artwork the band previously opted for. The artwork features the members shirtless with body paint and make-up effects applied to them, set against a "purposely garish" collage of "bad renders" of sinister images. Some controversy arose regarding the depiction of a condom wrapper and occult references on the cover. The album was made available to pre-order on October 6th 2019.
Writing & RecordingIn a summer 2018 interview, Riley Hamilton stated that the group were sitting on "well over 60 songs" for the project and that they were aiming to choose between 12 and 15 songs for the album. Many of these songs were registered to ASCAP around the same time but were ultimately scrapped. Later that year, Weekend set out on a new approach for the conception of the album which involved cutting off outside help. The group made a conscious decision to make their third album a far more introspective and truthful record, tapping into subjects that only the five of them have experienced together. This marks the first time that the band have not written with Sara Hollywood - a writer signed to Five Pesky Kids, who Weekend often cite as "the hidden sixth member" on account of her songwriting input since the first album.
Blue-Conners, Hamilton, Holmes, Ward and Wellington all wrote numerous songs for inclusion. The band wrote together, in small groups and on their own which resulted in a wide array of songs to choose from. Since its inception, Weekend knew that this third album was to be an 80's rock-pop styled affair, expanding from the sounds they played with on the previous album. Oscar Ward stated that the sound "compliments the lyrics beautifully" and that the "eclectic mix of soaring anthems, catchy hooks, tearjerker ballads and jaunty pop tunes all come together to tell our story so far".
Dustyn Blue-Conners, like on previous albums, has a writing credit on every song included. He also wrote three tracks alone. Riley Hamilton is second with six tracks co-penned. Scott Wellington has five writing credits to his name while Billy Holmes and Oscar Ward have four, respectively.
Critics have noted the vocal development of Billy Holmes and Riley Hamilton, praising their growth and spike in confidence over the years, becoming as forceful and dominant as Oscar Ward and Dustyn Blue-Conners on the records. Scott Wellington, however, revealed that his confidence has "taken a knock" over the constant criticism of his vocal abilities therefore, he has willingly asked for minimum solo airtime on this album
Music"Welcome to the Real World", Weekend's first album in four years, contains 12 tracks and will have no region specific bonus tracks. All 12 songs will be released worldwide as standard with no deluxe variant of the album being available. The album is a mix of upbeat, mid-tempo and ballad tracks, with an overall 80's rock-pop inspired vibe encompassing the album. Their second studio release,
"About Time", saw the band tap into a 70's and 80's influenced stadium rock sound which in turn inspired the retro sounds of this upcoming set too. The group opted to focus on a more pop oriented "throwback" sound this time around as opposed to the rockier tones of their previous release.
The themes explored on this album have been described as "darker" and "far more honest" than anything the group had written before. The band have often been cited as role models and perfect examples of young men in the modern world; pushing boundaries, promoting inclusion and diversity as well as throwing out typical Hollywood and boy band tropes. The band do not use gender leaning pronouns in their music, allowing listeners to adapt and interpret how they like. Wanting to expand on this, the band made a conscious effort to write more candidly on this set. The overall theme of the album is stepping into adulthood and seeing the "real" world. Some topics explored throughout the album are; peer pressure, self-criticism, drug abuse, homophobia, toxic masculinity, sex, pressures of fame, love and friendship.
Singles"Victory" was released as the album's lead single on December 17th 2018. It marked Weekend's first release since
"Only Just Begun" in 2015. The single debuted atop of the charts and remained their for four non-consecutive weeks. It has since became Weekend's best-selling single and is still charting and selling well ten months after release.
"Our Song" was released as the second single from the album on July 8th 2019. The track also debuted at #1, giving the group their fifth consecutive chart topper and seventh overall. The single was well-received by fans and critics alike and has been hailed as their most "poppy" and "radio-friendly" release since their debut era in 2012.
"Be A Man" was released as the third single from the album on September 30th 2019. The single received universal praise for its lyrics which tackle toxic masculinity and homophobic societal views. It debuted atop of the charts, giving the band their third #1 single from this album, their sixth consecutive one and their eighth overall.
"Hard" was released as the fourth single from the album on December 16th 2019 and the last release prior to the record dropping. For it's release, two versions of the song were made available: the original near-seven minute long version which features on the album and in the video as well as the LosOscuros Radio Edit which was made for airplay. The song received universal praise for it's production, unconventional structure and lyricism. The single debuted at #1.
Track Listing
Welcome to the Real World(D.Blue-Conners)Our Song(D.Blue-Conners, R.Hamilton, B.Holmes, O.Ward, S.Wellington)LDN Dusk(D.Blue-Conners, R.Hamilton, B.Holmes)Hard(D.Blue-Conners, R.Hamilton)Victory(D.Blue-Conners, R.Hamilton, S.Wellington)Where You Gonna Go?(D.Blue-Conners, S.Wellington)Be A Man(D.Blue-Conners, R.Hamilton, B.Holmes)One for the Road(D.Blue-Conners, O.Ward, S.Wellington)Touch & Go(D.Blue-Conners, O.Ward)Poster Boy(D.Blue-Conners, R.Hamilton, B.Holmes, O.Ward, S.Wellington)The Sun's On Us(D.Blue-Conners)Circles(D.Blue-Conners)