Month: January 2025

One of the best parts of traveling includes learning about new cultures and putting yourself outside of your comfort zone. However, sometimes if there’s a big language barrier, unfamiliar public transportation, navigation issues, or rules you’re unaware of (like the one I learned about in South Korea, that it’s part of the culture to be completely silent on the subways out of respect to each other), among other factors, it can lead to a stressful time if you don’t plan properly.

I’ve traveled to nearly 60 countries, and after visiting Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore, I’ve seen some of the most beautiful views, met the kindest people, ate delicious food, and experienced Southeast Asian cultures on trips I’ll never forget. Yet, I still have a desire to see more.

When I knew I wanted to visit South Korea, I looked into tour companies that valued my love of adventure, culinary experiences, and art, which is when I came across Intrepid. As someone who travels solo often, I definitely see how traveling with a group, especially an age-specific group, could be beneficial. We all got very close, very fast and some of the shared activities would’ve been less fun if I was on my own.

Here’s my guide.

Getting to South Korea

On my way to South Korea flying with Cathay Pacific Airlines, I ended up with a long layover in Taiwan. With this long layover, I learned that you don’t need a visa to get into Taiwan and decided to leave the airport. I ended up doing my own thing just because I wanted to visit a specific food market, the Nanmen Market, but I learned that there are free tours from the airport as long as you have the time.

If you don’t fly Cathay Pacific Airlines, look into the Turkish Airlines flights to Seoul. Turkish Airlines actually has delicious food thanks to their chef in the sky program in business class, making the journey to Seoul (and it’s a long one), enjoyable, too.

How Intrepid Travel Works

Below, I break down the individual activities that we did through the Intrepid Travel group trip. Everything is included in the price, and when it comes to the activities, restaurants, experiences, etc., many are unique to Intrepid Tours (some experiences and restaurants without websites or unavailable to book on your own).

This itinerary starts in Seoul, then goes to Jeonju and Busan before heading back to Seoul, South Korea. Their pricing fluctuates, but on average the trip costs around $1,700 USD.

 

PART I — Where To Stay in Seoul

L7 Hongdae Hotel

 

I made my way into the hotel and immediately the first thing I noticed was the street art style playful murals throughout the hotel entrance. The location of L7 Hongdae is convenient walking distance from a lot. Not only does the hotel have their own coffee shop and cocktail bars on property, but it’s in a great neighborhood where there’s a good amount of young travelers, locals, live music, karaoke bars, restaurants and shops to explore. Adding to that, the shops stay open until midnight. We were shopping for clothes until about then, and the streets were packed with no evidence of closing anytime soon, so we felt safe walking back to our hotel. The nightlife is booming here and you could make the most of your days exploring this area. The rooftop pool comes in clutch during those warmer months, and the rooms are cozy. Minimalistic with a comfortable bed to dive into after a long travel day.

KEY AMENITIES

• Free high-speed wired/wireless Internet
• L7 signature drip coffee
• Fitness Center with the latest exercise equipment from -TechnoGym
• Bathrobe
• Great selection on the breakfast buffet

ROOM RATE

Rooms start around $250. This is covered under the cost with Intrepid.

BOOK HERE

 

Where To Stay in Jeonju

Hanok village stay at GGotjari Hanok, 꽃자리한옥

Staying in a transition Hanok Village is a niche kind of stay, but worth exploring. Hanoks are not the place to go if you want a luxury stay with a big soaking tub, balcony with a view, or strong Wi-Fi. It’s the place that you go to unplug with very basic, minimalistic amenities. That’s the point. To give you an idea, some of the rooms don’t even have beds, but more of a cushioned mat on the ground to connect you to the earth and the shower is the same room as the toilet, with a small drain in the middle of the room and slippers to throw on, so you’re not walking in the wet water if you have to use the toilet. Why stay here? Intrepid found it important to offer this as an experience because it brings you a sense of the culture. The Hanok Village owners, Yeong Seng & Paiksonok, were so lovely and welcoming. The outside design of the hanok wooden frame is thoughtfully designed and the rooms are clean. It’s just a few minutes walking to town with cute shops, places to eat, and even a 24 hour Korean bath house which is quite nice if you wake up with jet lag.

KEY AMENITIES

• Very clean
• Great location
• Truthfully, not much. That’s the point, to bring it to the most minimalistic level.

ROOM RATE

Rooms start around $65 USD.

BOOK HERE

Where To Stay in Busan

 

Felix by STX Hotel and Suites

Felix by STX is a basic hotel stay with a comfortable bed and a great location when staying in Busan. I had a patio which was nice to bring in some fresh air. The room is large with a small kitchen section. Nothing truly out of the ordinary, but a clean, convenient place to sleep. The city is quite large, so getting around you might need to plan on taking a few Ubers. That said, this hotel is a great location to explore some bars and restaurants in the area. The Haeundae neighborhood has a youthful crowd, ready to enjoy the nightlife.

KEY AMENITIES

• Free Wi-Fi
• Breakfast
• Free parking
• Air-conditioned

ROOM RATE

Rooms start around $170 USD.

BOOK HERE

PART II — Seoul

Gwangjang Market
Address: 88 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

The Gwangjang Market is insanely busy, but definitely worth checking out. This is a great place to try some local dishes like tteokbokki (rice cake), Korean raw beef, liver, blood sausage, oyster pancakes, veggie tempura, and more. However, I can’t stress enough that this is one of the biggest and oldest traditional markets in the country, so you’ll be dealing with some crowns, and occasional pushing. Just go with a level of patience, understanding, and calmness to fully get the best experience.

Gyeongbokgung Palace
Address: 161 Sajik-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Seeing the changing of the guards’ demonstration at Gyeongbokgung Palace is a special experience worth seeking out in Seoul, offered through Intrepid. From the Joseon Dynasty, created in the late 1300s, the palace was home to the government and the royal family over the years.

HiKR art exhibit
Address: 40 Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jung District, Seoul, South Korea

If you enjoy art, the HiKR experience was interactive. Visitors can see video light demonstrations, animation, and there are multiple places to film your own music video with props and backdrops like the coin laundry room, the subway, and the main stage. We blasted K-pop and performed our own music videos. This is a great location to shoot some Reels and TikToks, or honestly just have some fun.

FRZM Dance Studio
Address: 19-24 Wausan-ro 17-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

To say this was hilarious is an understatement. I can’t recommend this enough, we had so much fun and it was an activity that gives you a little bit of exercise. We danced to Super Shy and learned choreography from our instructor Shin Chae Yeon (her nickname is Peri) at the FRZM Dance Studio. She was patient with us and taught us slowly at first. Eventually, we picked up speed and gained some confidence with it, and it was such a good time doing this coordinated dance together to K-pop!

Korean Lesson

I was unsure about this activity at first when I saw it on the itinerary through Intrepid. I wasn’t sure if I would get a lot of use out of what I learned in this class. I was humbled quickly, this class was incredibly helpful. We learned basic phrases that were useful at local markets, when we had downtime and were exploring the area alone, and even just polite phrases like how to say thank you for us to use throughout the week. Our instructor was so patient with us and broke down how to properly pronounce things, having us repeat the phrases and working with us directly.

Daegwanryeong

Address: Seoul Mapogu Dongyoro 197(서울 마포구 동교로 197)

Hot pot is such a great way to dine together as a big group. With a pot in the center of the table full of seasoned simmering broth, they gave us a giant bowl of freshly grown mushrooms that they grow themselves in house, among other greens and veggies, noodles, and meat to cook in the pot as we chat and pass around Soju. After we’re done, they take the cooked down veggies and seasoned broth and turn it into porridge with rice and additional fresh vegetables that tasted like the inside of a chicken pot pie. It was absolutely delicious and such a great experience.

Korean Food Lecture

One of the really unique opportunities that came through Intrepid was a food lecture in a local’s apartment. We went to Gwangyang and visited Yoonie and Dan Park in their home where they live with Yoonie’s mother and their three children. They made us an incredible lunch, followed by tea, and showed us how to make dalgona (shout out to all of the Squid Game fans) from scratch!

Shopping

Shopping in Korea is an absolute must. Seoul is full of mini boutiques, clothing stores, vintage shops and thrifting, and of course, plenty of Korean skincare and beauty stores. You can go to stores like Olive Young and load up on collagen eye patches, pimple patches, some of the best sunscreen, lip masks, wrinkle patches and so much more to bring home to test out.

Hongdae Cocktail & Highball Bar PINKS
Address: 39 Jandari-ro 6-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

When it comes to nightlife, there are so many incredible bars in Seoul. One that really stuck out to us was the Pink Bar, with hot pink lights and pink everything, pink pink pink! It’s giving Barbie vibes. You can spot it from a mile away on the street, and it has a funky ambience, a rooftop bar, cocktails, and a wide variety of flavored Soju like grape, grapefruit, and lemon (skip the lemon in my opinion, unless you like the taste of cleaner, but the grape was bomb).

Su Noraebang
Address: 367-39 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Doing Noraebang is an absolute must while you’re in Korea. Saying that they take it seriously is an understatement. First of all, I absolutely love that the majority of the bars give you your own private room as a group to sing, so you can really let loose and let your personality shine in front of your friends instead of a bunch of strangers if it’s not usually your thing. They gave us our own private room with theater type seating, multiple microphones so everyone can get involved, and a huge TV surrounded by mirrors. It was such a fun experience, especially after getting a little tipsy at Pinks, we had plenty of liquid courage to belt out everything from Alanis Morissette and Beyoncé, to Gangnam Style and Let’s Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez!

PART III — Jeonju

Kimchi Cooking Class

If you like kimchi, this class is a must. Kim at Kim Myeongok Kimchi School is a certified kimchi master and is well-known in the community for her attention to detail when it comes to making her own kimchi from scratch. She makes her own shrimp paste from scratch, among other ingredients, to use within her kimchi because she didn’t like the taste of the other pastes available to buy. She goes through the process of creating kimchi, teaching you how to properly do it, and ends the class by cooking kimchi pancakes, letting us taste her radish kimchi, and enjoying food together.

Nambu Market
Address:19-3 Pungnammun 1-gil, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea

Walking along the Korean Market, you’ll find everything from crafts to street food like the sweet cheese filled coin bread. This is a great place to find art and souvenirs, and even try some traditional Korean snacks like the coin filled with sweet cheese. Be sure to look through the community garden, you’ll see a lot of cats that have made their home there and they’re so sweet!

Hanok Village
Address: 99 Girin-daero, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea

In addition to staying in a traditional Hanok, you can explore other historical homes in town. Take a walk through the village to browse through local shops and pass by other Korean Hanok homes. There’s even a 24 hour bathhouse walkable distance from the hotel that is truly an experience on its own. One morning, I woke up and couldn’t fall back to sleep at about 5:30 AM. I decided to go check out the bathhouse and get an exfoliating scrub, a facial, and soak in the hot and cold plunges, drying off in the salt room and the sauna for around $40 USD for entry and the treatments. It’s definitely an experience, but be prepared to walk around in your birthday suit.

Jeonju GajolHeogwan(전주 가족회관)
Address: 17, Jeollagamyeong 5-gil, Wansan-gu, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do 55038 South Korea

Jeonju Bibimbap, a generational family business currently owned by Mi Yang, is the ideal place to experience traditional and modernized bibimbap. They keep it simple with only two kinds on the menu. Traditionally, there is raw egg and raw beef in the dish, so they created one with cooked beef and an egg soufflé if the idea of raw is not your thing. The side toppings and accouterments were phenomenal, all thought out and beautifully prepared, to enhance the dish. If you want to try the raw version, the egg generally cooks a bit once you mix it in with the other hot ingredients.

Waeng-i-jip

Jeonbuk Jeonjusi Wansangu Dongmungil 88(전북 전주시 완산구 동문길 88)
Instead of sipping bloody marys over pancakes after a night of fun, Jeonju has Bean Sprout “Hangover” soup for breakfast at Waeng-i-jip. Obviously, make sure you have a few drinks the night before to enjoy the traditional hangover soup with spices, bean, sprouts, and a soothing broth the right way.

Yetchon Makgeolli
Address: 8 Jungsanjungang-ro, Junghwasan-dong 2(i)-ga, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea

If you’re looking to dive into some very traditional Korean dishes, an important aspect for Intrepid when they design their tours with foodies in mind, Yetchun Makgeolli is the ideal spot to try some menu items in addition to rice beer. We filled the table with raw marinated crab (silky texture with sweet crab meat and spice from the marinade), smoked fish, pork, prawns, pig feet, fermented fish with kimchi, and pancakes.

PART IV — Busan

Haedong Yonggung Temple

We spent the morning exploring a Buddhist temple right on the water. The path opened up into a stunning temple with waves crashing, creating this peaceful environment. It was such a stunning view and a great way to start the day. On the path back, there were places to try dalgona candy, local snacks, and shop fenders to buy products from Korean artists.

Stop along the way from Jeonju to Busan

On the way to Busan, we explored more local art at Palbok Art Factory. Created in the late 1970s, the building was once used as a manufacturing plant for cassette tapes. You’ll even find a few Easter eggs about this in the art around the building. After we drove a bit more, we stopped at Webosansung. Sure, this was a historical mountain fortress used to shield residents during the Joseon Dynasty…but you know what else it was used for? A BTS photoshoot. Obviously, we had to recreate the picture.

Haewondae Lamb Skewers
Address: Busan, Haewoondaegu Gunamro 12bungil 4, Second floor

The meal we had at Haewondae Lamb Skewers in Busan was easily one of my absolute favorites. It’s Korean barbecue and shared plates. We roasted lamb skewers over the barbecue, and while those were cooking, we passed around dishes like oimuchim (a crunchy, acidic cucumber salad), eggplant, gamjachae bokum (pan fried sliced potato), and my personal favorite, the tangsuyuk (a fried pork in sweet and sour sauce that had a chewy, thin layer of rice mochi). As always, there was plenty of Soju and beer to go around.

Martial Arts Black Belt Academy

One of the highlights for me was definitely the taekwondo class at Martial Arts Black Belt Academy with our instructors Shin, Gyu sik and Goo, Jiwoo. Intrepid and the Martial Arts Black Belt Academy set up a private taekwondo class led by Kyunghee Taekwondo. This class honestly made me want to look into doing taekwondo further because it was such a good stress relief. You stretch out your entire body and then punch, kick, and shout your way through an amazing workout. Sometimes you just need that, am I right?

Urban Smart Farm

We visited an Urban Smart Farm, where they showed us how they’re using agricultural technology to grow greens, flowers, ginger, mushrooms, and more in the middle of the city within shipping containers to create fresh produce in populated areas. An effort led by CEO, Ms. Jeon Jeong Wook. As a group, we were able to help pick the mushrooms, taste the products, and learn about how these efforts are helping the community.

Gamcheon village
Gamcheon-dong, Saha District, Busan, South Korea

Don’t skip Gamcheon Culture Village! Easily one of my favorite parts of the trip, it looks like Korea’s version of the Amalfi Coast with colorful, beautiful buildings scaling the hills. There are cafés, shopping, art, artisan crafts to purchase, and plenty of snacks along the streets of this village. I seriously can’t recommend it enough, very good for pictures if you’re a photographer, but plenty to do if you just want to enjoy.

Jagalchi Market
Address: 52 Jagalchihaean-ro, Jung-gu, Busan, South Korea

If you love seafood as much as I do, when you’re in Busan, they’re famous for it. One place to check out a lot of local dishes, or even purchase some seafood if you’re looking to do so, is the Jagalchi Market. This world famous market is known for their wide variety of fresh fish and seafood. I came here to try their live octopus. No, it’s not actually alive, but after they slice it and toss it in sesame oil and chili sauce, the tentacles still move, so they call it “live” octopus. It doesn’t really get fresher than that!

Taejongdae Yolo Grilled Clams
Address:Busan Yeongdogu Gamjigil 87bungil 21(부산 영도구 감지길87번길 21 욜로조개구이)

Speaking of fresh seafood, another place to try seafood while in Busan is Taejongdae Yolo Grilled Clams. We tried some very traditional dishes, like live octopus (yum), spoon worms and silkworms (worth a try, but too mushy), in addition to some more modern dishes incorporating the fresh seafood like scallops and clams grilled over an open fire, gochujang fried rice, veggie dishes and more.

The Houston Rockets have been the best story in the NBA this season, as they’ve gone from a young team full of potential to one of the best teams in the league. At 31-14, the Rockets are second in the West, six games back of the Thunder, and have made quite the statement over the last few weeks, beating top-4 teams in both conferences (Memphis, Denver, Cleveland, and Boston) in six of their last nine games.

What has made this Rockets team so good is their defense, balance, and depth, but that is creating a bit of a conundrum this week as coaches get set to make their reserve selections for the All-Star rosters. Coaches tend to want to reward top teams with All-Star nods, and it’d be hard to justify not sending a representative from Houston to the All-Star Game. The player on the Rockets with the best statistical case as an All-Star is Alperen Sengun, averaging 19.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, but he’s actually taken a small step back from last year in terms of efficiency. Jalen Green is the team’s leading scorer, but at just 21.2 points per game with 42.9/35.9/87.1 shooting splits, he has not been such a lethal scorer that he’s an All-Star lock in a crowded West backcourt race.

My guess is Sengun lands a spot, in part because he has the best stats and also because he was just on the outside looking in last year for a selection. However, for basically anyone that’s watched the Rockets of late, there is a different player that has stood out and looks like the centerpiece of Houston’s roster: Amen Thompson.

The fourth overall pick from the 2023 NBA Draft had a solid rookie campaign, showing flashes of brilliance and the athletic upside in his 62 appearances that made him such a tantalizing prospect. Through 42 games of his sophomore campaign, Thompson has cemented himself as one of the league’s premier defensive wings, taking on the challenge of guarding the opponent’s best perimeter player most nights. Most excitingly, he’s started to take on a larger offensive role and is continuing to thrive.

The last 10 games have been Thompson’s most consistent in terms of scoring impact, as he’s averaging 19.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 4.4 assists on 57.4 percent shooting. On Monday night against the Celtics, Thompson put forth the best outing of his young career. He set a new career-high with 33 points (on 13-of-19 shooting), gave Jayson Tatum fits with his defense, and hit his first career game-winner with just under a second to go on a floater in the lane over Jaylen Brown.

That the Rockets opted to go to Thompson on the final possession and let him have the ball in his hands felt important. It was a show of trust in his young, budding star that Ime Udoka would leave Green in the corner, Sengun in the dunker spot, and have the veteran Fred VanVleet inbounding it to Thompson for a clear-out. Thompson rewarded that with a decisive take, going straight at Brown and using his strength to create space, stopping and popping for the game-winning floater.

Part of what has made Thompson so effective this season is his understanding of what he’s not. The swing skill for many coming into the 2023 Draft was whether Thompson could become a viable shooter at the NBA level. That hasn’t happened, as he’s shooting just 25 percent from three this season. While it’s an improvement on his rookie year when he shot 14 percent, being a non-threat from three hasn’t stopped him from being a highly effective player. Thompson has elite burst and athleticism, and can close down space quickly on defenders even when they sag off of him, as he showed against Brown on that final possession. Once into the body, he has the strength and balance to go through defenders and has the touch and skill to finish through contact at or near the rim.

It’s extremely rare for a player who isn’t a big man to be a non-shooter and still be above-average in shooting efficiency, but Thompson manages to do just that. On the ball, he’s fantastic at getting where he wants with his strength and speed. Off ball, he punishes defenses for not paying attention to him in the corner with timely baseline cuts. He refuses to settle for shots he’s not good at, and his relentless pursuit of the rim makes his shooting deficiencies moot, as he takes 71.7 percent of his shot attempts from inside 10 feet. Inside the restricted area, he finishes at a 75.7 percent clip. From 3-10 feet, 50 percent, and he’s even developed a decent midrange jumper, knocking down 45.7 percent of his shots from 10-16 feet.

Finding a comp for Thompson is difficult, because not a lot of players carve out significant roles with his skillset on the wing, but you could go with “shorter Giannis,” or perhaps “evolutionary Andre Iguodala.” In a league that is obsessed with the 3-and-D archetype, Thompson is carving out a unique path to stardom. The Rockets, for their part, seem eager to support that journey, and while you can’t build the whole team out of non-shooters, you can recognize when you have a singular talent on your hands, which Houston seems to.

Pairing Thompson with an elite passing big in Sengun helps negate spacing concerns, as a timely cut is rewarded with an on-time pass. As Houston continues to build and tinker with the roster, they’ll seek out more shooting to support their young stars, but even without that, they manage to grind teams down defensively, throwing waves of physical, long defenders at teams that make life miserable for 48 minutes. That is part of the recipe for Houston’s success in close games. The other part is being able to attack teams in different ways on the offensive end in key situations.

Houston’s offense is far from the league’s most dynamic, but they’ve been able to lean on Green, Sengun, and more recently Thompson to create a bucket in big moments late. For Thompson in particular, his refusal to settle for a jumper makes him dangerous, as teams are wary of fouling and his determination to get to the rim puts opponents in a bind. He probably won’t get the All-Star nod for the Rockets this year, but it’s becoming apparent that Thompson is the player that will determine the Rockets ceiling, and right now, it feels like we haven’t even seen the best it could become.

Modest Mouse’s most recent album is 2021’s The Golden Casket, but even still, the band has been active with touring over the past few years. There’s more of that to come in 2025, too: Today (January 28), the band announced a new run of tour dates.

The shows run for about a month from June to July and hit a variety of North American cities, like New Orleans, Louisville, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Calgary.

A fan pre-sale for tickets starts January 29, and that’ll be followed by the general on-sale beginning January 31 at 10 a.m. local time. More information is available on the band’s website.

Check out the tour dates below.

Modest Mouse’s 2025 Tour Dates

06/09 — Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues Orlando
06/10 — St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
06/11 — St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre
06/13 — Asheville, NC @ Asheville Yards Amphitheater
06/14 — Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo 2025
06/15 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
06/17 — New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater
06/18 — Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Company
06/19 — Louisville, KY @ Old Forester’s Paristown Hall
06/20 — Cleveland, OH @ TempleLive Cleveland Masonic
06/21 — Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live!
06/23 — West Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom
06/24 — Kansas City, MO @ Grinders KC
06/25 — Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion
06/27 — Dillon, CO @ Dillon Amphitheater
06/28 — Ogden, UT @ Ogden Amphitheater
06/29 — Boise, ID @ Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden
07/02 — Calgary, AB @ Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
07/03 — Edmonton, AB @ Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
07/04-05 — Missoula, MT @ Zootown Music Festival 2025

Welcome to the Crumbl Cookie report! If you like your desserts rich, decadent, or indulgent (or all three!), this week will feel tailor-made for you. Whether you like the idea of a layer Oreo cake, double-stacked shortcake topped with house made jam, or love the simple but flavorful pleasures of banana bread or the festive fun of a confetti cake, Crumbl has your back.

Generally, when we do these weekly round-ups, we’re trying to separate the skippable cookies from the absolute must-haves, but this week looks like it’s going to be a little bit tough. The cookie builds this week are so wildly different from one another, that whether you like one cookie over another will largely depend on how you feel about a few key ingredients.

It’s safe to say if you don’t like lemon-flavored desserts, you’re not going to like the Lemon Poppy Seed cookie, but there is still a clear hierarchy in this week’s releases. While some are delicious, some are flat out boring. So here is every cookie dropping at Crumbl this week, ranked from least to most essential.

8. Macadamia Nut

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

As a fan of macadamia nut cookies, I wish I could say that this one is essential. It’s not. It’s delicious, nutty, and buttery, but it doesn’t taste all that different from your average grocery store cookie. That’s not okay when you consider a single Crumbl cookie costs nearly $5, which is more expensive than a whole 8-pack from Pepperidge Farm.

There isn’t much going on here that you haven’t experienced — this cookie features a buttery cookie base topped with white chocolate drops, and creamy, buttery macadamia nuts.

The Bottom Line:

Standard flavors with average execution. This doesn’t taste like an elevated Macadamia Nut by any means. It tastes like an overpriced one.

7. Milk Chocolate Chip

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

To really showcase how strong this week at Crumbl is, look at where we’ve placed the Milk Chocolate Chip. Second to last. That’s not to say this cookie isn’t good, Crumbl has it every other week, so clearly, it’s delicious and popular.

But this week, it’s one of the least essential cookies. Not just because it’ll be back in two weeks, but because every other cookie except the Macadamia Nut dunks on this one.

If you’ve never had it, you can expect a wonderful blend of brown sugar, butter, and sweet milk chocolate with a soft and chewy texture.

The Bottom Line:

A great, elevated chocolate chip cookie, but this week we suggest you skip it.

6. Strawberry Shortcake

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

Clearly, the build of my Strawberry Shortcake didn’t look anything like Crumbl’s advertisement, which features a thick glistening layer of strawberry jam, whereas mine looked like someone accidentally spilled some jam on it.

Regardless, I don’t know that more jam fixes this cake. The issue here is that the flavors are a bit too similar, you’ve got two layers of super sweet vanilla shortcake, sandwiched together by whipped cream and then topped with whipped cream and ultra-sweet strawberry jam. Altogether, it’s way too sweet, to the point where we couldn’t handle more than a few forkfuls. So if you like sharing your sweets, this is an ideal one for that.

Overall, a more tart jam would’ve served this cake better, like raspberry or blackberry, it needs something to counterbalance the sweet tones of the cake. It’s good, don’t get us wrong, but it could’ve been great.

The Bottom Line:

If you like your desserts ultra sweet and bright, you’ll probably love this, but to us, it leans on being sickeningly sweet. This is a great cake to share though.

5. Banana Bread Cookie

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

Crumbl occasionally has a banana loaf that I think is legitimately one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. So I had high hopes for the Banana Bread Cookie. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite deliver the same experience.

That isn’t to say it isn’t good — this cookie features a sweet banana bread base, I’m tasting brown sugar, cinnamon, and maybe allspice, topped with a layer of vanilla cream cheese and wonderfully textured brown sugar streusel. What it lacks is the necessary moistness that makes banana bread so damn decadent.

I want a softer chew with these flavors. Instead, it comes across as a bit too brittle and dry. It feels like the dry base of the cookie is fighting with the flavors.

The Bottom Line:

Delicious but doesn’t reach the heights of Crumbl’s banana bread loaf.

4. Mom’s Recipe

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

Props to whoever’s mom came up with this recipe! This cookie is amazing. It features a chewy, sweet, and dark oatmeal base with a mix of semi-sweet chocolate, toffee, and peanut butter chips embedded heavily throughout with a touch of sea salt on the top.

The chocolate, toffee, peanut butter combination provides a combination of rich, toasty, and nutty notes while the sea salt keeps things from being a bit too decadent and sweet. It’s a nicely balanced cookie. One of Crumbl’s best.

The Bottom Line:

Mom’s Recipe has a bit of everything for everybody. You get chocolate, peanut butter, toffee, oats, and a lot of complexity.

3. Lemon Poppy Seed

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

If you think this is way too high to rank a Lemon Poppy Seed muffin — you’re wrong. This cookie is f*cking amazing. It’s not just your standard sweet lemon-flavored cookie. Over a lemon base, this thing is loaded up with poppy seeds, lemon filling, and a delicious lemon glaze that has a lot of sweet and complex almond and cherry notes.

It covers a lot of the same ground as Crumbl’s popular Pink Sugar Cookie, but honestly, it’s even better.

The Bottom Line:

The best lemon cookie you’ll ever eat, thanks to the subtle almond and cherry notes.

2. Confetti Cake Cookie

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

I wanted to write off this clown a** cookie as soon as I saw it, but after a single bite, I was willing to give it the top spot. Ultimately, I went another way, but I’ve seriously considered hitting up Crumbl again this week just to get a six-pack box of this and our top pick.

The Confetti Cake features a sugar cookie base loaded up with confetti sprinkles and topped with vanilla cream cheese and more confetti sprinkles for good measure. The cookie is nicely balanced between being chewy and crumbly, while the sprinkles add a nice layer of texture to every bite, which plays well with the thick and airy pink frosting.

The Bottom Line:

It looks ridiculous, sure, but give it a chance. It’s wonderfully sweet and perfectly textured.

1. Cookies & Cream Cake ft. Oreo

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

I think it goes without saying that the Cookies & Cream Cake ft. Oreo cookies is not supposed to look like this. But this time, that’s not Crumbl’s fault. It’s mine. This cake absolutely fell apart in the very brief drive from Crumbl to my apartment, so drive carefully when you have this thing in tow. Maybe get one of those “baby on board” stickers to warn other drivers that you’re in no rush.

But while it isn’t pretty to look at, it tastes great, so I will gladly scrape and eat all the chocolate that is now smeared on the box.

This cake features a double layer of rich devil’s food chocolate cake layered with an Oreo cream cheese frosting, topped with chocolate ganache, and topped with a mini Oreo cookie. It’s super rich, super decadent, and super chocolaty.

The Bottom Line:

A rich decadent chocolate cake. An absolute must if you love rich chocolate-heavy desserts.

After a whirlwind year, New York singer/rapper Laila! has come into her own and is ready to take her show on the road. In the wake of her hit single “Not My Problem,” the second-generation hip-hop star released her debut album Gap Year, proving she has the chops to live up to her famous legacy. She also got her first major festival booking, appearing at Tyler The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival along with other breakouts like Sexyy Red, Doechii, and Raye.

Her upcoming Gap Year Tour will give her the chance to continue doing that. Beginning at the end of March and running through the end of April, the tour will hit 11 stops across the US and Canada. Tickets will go on sale on Friday, January 31 at 10 AM local time. Pre-sale tickets go on sale on Wednesday, January 29 at 10AM, with a Spotify Fans First presale on Thursday January 30.

Laila! Gap Year Tour Dates

03/27 – San Francisco, CA @ Brick & Mortar
03/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
04/03 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
04/05 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5
04/19 – New York, NY @ SOB’s
04/20 – Washington, DC @ Pearl Street Warehouse
04/22 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live: The Lounge
04/24 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
04/25 – Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
04/27 – Toronto, ON @ Drake Underground Hotel

Valentine’s Day is just a couple weeks away now, and Rihanna’s lingerie brand Savage X Fenty has been getting ahead of the game. They announced a new line earlier this month, and Rihanna models some pieces from it in a new video.

The video from Savage X Fenty sees Rihanna donning lingerie and a robe as she frosts a cake, all while answering Valentine’s Day-related questions.

She shared her thoughts on “galentine” celebrations, saying, “I’ve done galentines for several years, but it’s very nice to have a valentine.” When asked if she prefers a getaway or to stay at home, she answered, “Ooh… I view staying at home as a getaway. I just want to stay home… and watch reality TV.” Then, she was asked about love songs vs. love letters, and she groaned at the idea of a love song, saying, “Ugh, please! Never make me a love song! That is corny. Trust me, I’ve seen it.”

As far as the cake-decorating aspect of the video, it ended up being all for naught: Rihanna got a little careless and dropped the cake she had worked so hard on.

It would seem ASAP Rocky has gotten a Valentine’s or two right in his day, as he and Rihanna have been together for years now and have two children.

Check out the video here.

Central Cee is on a mission to prove you Can’t Rush Greatness with his new album, and in just a couple of months, he’ll take that mission worldwide with his Can’t Rush Greatness World Tour. He’s announced the dates today; you can find tickets and more information here.

The tour announcement and dates come on the heels of the UK rapper’s new video for “Truth In The Lies” featuring Lil Durk. You can see the dates below.

Central Cee Can’t Rush Greatness Tour Dates

01/30 — London @ Koko
02/03 — New York @ Gramercy Theatre
04/01 — Oslo Spektrum
04/03 — Copenhagen @ Forum Black Box
04/05 — Hamburg @ Sporthalle
04/06 — Berlin @ Velodrom
04/08 — Amsterdam @ Ziggo Dome
04/10 — Milan @ Fabrique
04/11 — Munich Zenith @ Die Kulturhalle
04/13 — Paris @ Accor Arena
04/15 — Dusseldorf @ Psd Bank Dome
04/16 — Brussels @ Forest National
04/18 — Birmingham @ Utilita Arena Birmingham
04/19 — Manchester @ Co Op Live
04/22 — Dublin @ 3arena
04/24 — London @ O2
04/27 — Glasgow @ Ovo Hydro

05/02 — Portland, WA @ Roseland Theater
05/03 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox Sodo
05/06 — San Francisco, CA @ Masonic
05/07 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
05/09 — Denver, CO @ Fillmore
05/11 — Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
05/12 — Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom
05/15 — Detroit, MI @ Fillmore
05/16 — Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
05/18 — Charlotte, NC @ Fillmore
05/19 — Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy
05/21 — Philadelphia, PA @ Fillmore
05/22 — Silver Spring, MD @ Fillmore
05/24 — Toronto ON @ History
05/25 — Toronto ON @ History
05/27 — Brooklyn, NY @ Paramount
05/29 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
05/31 — Boston, Ma @ MGM Music Hall At Fenway
06/01 — Montréal, QC @ Mtelus

06/20 — Auckland @ Spark Arena
06/22 — Brisbane @ Entertainment Centre
06/25 — Sydney @ Qudos Bank Arena
06/28 — Melbourne @ Rod Laver Arena
07/02 — Perth @ RAC Arena

New mystery thriller series Paradise, starring Sterling K. Brown, was set for a three-episode Hulu premiere on January 28. Hulu decided to drop the debut episode a few days early, and viewers are already invested in the mystery of This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman’s new series, which he has planned for a three-season run. So, those who already drank in this show’s thriller vibes might be wondering when those other two episodes will land.

When Do Paradise Season 1, Episodes 2 & 3 Come Out On Hulu And FX?

Episodes 2 and 3 are still scheduled to stream on Hulu as of Jan. 28. The first episode will also premiere via FX Feb. 1 at 10:00pm EST. From there, however, episodes 2-8 will only stream via Hulu to finish the season. Variety is calling this switched-up release plan (the series premiere will also air on ABC) a “gamble,” one that is likely already paying off, given the discussion surrounding Paradise. Here are the next episode descriptions:

Episode 2, “Sinatra”: Agent Xavier Collins is interrogated. Samantha Redmond (codename Sinatra) begins to reassure the community as she reflects on how she got to Paradise.

Episode 3, “The Architect of Social Well-Being”: Isolated, Xavier seeks answers on his own and cautiously turns to Dr. Gabriela Torabi. Meanwhile, Billy and Jane feel the pressure from Robinson’s investigation.

Brown portrays Agent Xavier Collins alongside a cast that includes James Marsden, Julianne Nicholson, Krys Marshall, Charlie Evans, Sarah Shahi, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Michelle Meredith, and Jon Beavers.

Paradise‘s first season will be eight episodes long and will stream via Hulu.

Picture the Vince McMahon meme. It begins with “vampire movie,” then “vampire movie starring Michael B. Jordan,” followed by “vampire movie starring Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers,” and finally, “vampire movie starring Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers and also it’s directed by Ryan Coogler.” Sinners isn’t to be missed, and neither is the new trailer that Warner Bros. released today. Check it out above.

Sinners is Coogler’s fifth film as a director — and fifth film to star Jordan following Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The cast also includes Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Benson Miller, Delroy Lindo, and Hailee Steinfeld, who appears to be playing a vampire. Technically, the word “vampire” is never uttered in the trailer, but like Jeff Foxworthy always says (citation needed), if you take a bite out of someone’s neck and have blood all over your face, you might be a vampire.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

Sinners opens in theaters on April 18.

On Friday, The Weeknd will release his sixth album, Hurry Up Tomorrow. It arrives four months ahead of a film starring and co-written by the singer-songwriter based on the record. Whether the movie — described as a psychological thriller co-starring Barry Keoghan and Jenna Ortega — succeeds remains to be seen. But only a fool would bet against the album, given The Weeknd’s commercial track record.

He is simply one of the most dominant pop stars of recent years. The numbers speak for themselves: He has 25 songs with a billion or more streams on Spotify, more than any other artist ever. He has 67 gold and platinum albums and singles. And he is the first man to headline the Super Bowl halftime and appear as himself in a Safdie Brothers film. (Kevin Garnett still has a shot at the Super Bowl, I suppose.)

From a critical perspective, The Weeknd is a fascinating figure to ponder. Before he was a pop superstar, he was a mysterious indie artist with an exploding fanbase. He is easily the most successful artist to transition from the Pitchfork world to the world’s stage, and the way in which he achieved this — by both conceding to the sonic mores of mainstream pop while also remaining true to a clearly defined (and frequently transgressive) persona — has been singular and impressive.

Which is to say: I want to delve deeper into this guy’s career. So let’s do that. The hills have eyes! But I have ears! Who am I to judge? I’m the one writing this column!

Here are my 25 favorite songs by The Weeknd.

PRE-LIST ENTERTAINMENT: “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE WEEKND”

You know the meme. You have seen it at least once every Friday for the past five years. You probably have a friend who still thinks it’s a funny joke to drop in the group text thread. By now, most of you have gathered from context that Daniel Craig is standing on the stage at Saturday Night Live. And you might have even figured out that Daniel isn’t talking about “the weekend” but rather The Weeknd, also known as the Canadian singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye.

Two other important tidbits of information tend to get overlooked, however. The first is that the song Craig is introducing is “Blinding Lights,” the first single from Tesfaye’s fourth studio LP, After Hours, set to be released 13 days after this performance. Released four months prior in November 2019, “Blinding Lights” will eventually top the charts for two weeks in early April, and for another two weeks in late April and early May. Eventually, it will reign supreme as the year’s most popular song, and then as the single biggest track of the streaming era, blowing past a staggering four billion plays on Spotify.

The second important tidbit is that the performance took place on March 7, 2020. And as we all know, that was right before the Covid shutdown. The Weeknd appeared on the premiere weekly showcase for musicians on broadcast television and sang the biggest song of his (or anyone’s) career at the last possible moment in the so-called “normal times.” (Or “relatively normal times.”) And then he proceeded to have one of the biggest albums of 2020, with After Hours spawning five singles and landing at No. 2 on the year-end sales chart (behind, of course, Taylor Swift).

The Weeknd was already popular before 2020. But 2020 represents his commercial apex. And it occurred during a year that can be credibly classified as “dystopian,” when people were either imprisoned inside of their homes or protesting in the streets against police brutality. It was a time of extreme alienation, hopelessness, and spiritual darkness. It did not make anyone feel positive about the state of the human condition.

The Weeknd’s music doing extremely well during this period does not seem like a coincidence.

25. “Loft Music” (2011)

Speaking of memes: I want all of you kids to gather around Grandpa so I can tell you a story about something called “Hipster R&B.” It was a made-up genre designation to describe artists with an affinity for pop-soul sounds from the seventies and eighties, along with the aesthetics of internet-era indie. It was applied to artists you know and love (Frank Ocean, Janelle Monae) and artists you have probably forgotten (How To Dress Well, Active Child). It emerged as a prominent sound right when critics were locked in the dreaded “Poptimists vs. Rockists” wars of the early 2010s. And “Hipster R&B” was yet another flashpoint, with pop-minded critics charging that Brooklynites in dive bars were avoiding actual R&B music on questionable “snobby anti-pop” grounds. This is what people cared about in the waning days of the first Obama term. It truly was a simpler time (derogatory).

Alas, capitalistic market forces and the culture-flattening effects of social media soon rendered such debates moot. Soon, all artists would be put in the same bucket and stratifying artists based on their relationship to the mainstream — even artists who wanted to be stratified outside of that system — became impossible. And then there was The Weeknd, the most successful artist to start out in the “Hipster R&B” lane and then transition to legitimate pop superstardom. Though it remains unclear the degree to which he came to the pop world or the pop world came to him. In the end, it was an indefinite mixture of both.

This is easy to forget now, but The Weeknd started out as an indie dude. And I mean that in the literal sense of the world — he got famous as an unsigned artist by posting his songs on YouTube and maintaining a mysterious public facing persona. Was The Weeknd a guy? Was The Weeknd a band? Was The Weeknd a front for secretly released Michael Jackson demos? For a little while at least, all those possibilities (and more) were on the table.

Now, he was always destined for bigger and (mostly) better things. In a later Rolling Stone profile, the chief executive of Republic Records recalls an L.A. area show in 2012 that attracted representatives from all the major labels, “like the Five Families all in one room.” But if you’re looking for an example of “Hipster R&B,” you couldn’t find a more on-the-nose example than “Loft Music,” from the first Weeknd mixtape, House Of Balloons. The mood is murky and cinematic. The Beach House sample is instantly recognizable. And the lyrics are seedy and escapist in the most depressing possible way, with Tesfaye relating a soulless sex-and-drugs scenario with his incongruously sweet tenor, the core formula to The Weeknd’s music. He will repeat it over and over, with progressively bigger budgets and more dazzling production, in the years ahead.

24. “Prisoner” (2015)

In 2019’s Uncut Gems, Tesfaye plays the version of himself from 2012, when he was a self-described “relentless punk.” We see him perform one of his earliest viral hits, “The Morning,” in a club before sneaking off to sniff cocaine and proposition Julia Fox in a bathroom stall. The Safdie Brothers’ attention to detail is on point. The Weeknd behaves exactly how you would imagine The Weeknd behaving at the time. But there’s also the implication that this is not real, because Tesfaye is in on the joke. The sequence plays like a self-aware extension of the decadent misadventures endlessly unspooled on his early mixtapes, and a send-up of the character that Tesfaye portrays under the umbrella of The Weeknd and repeatedly insists is a character.

Read any profile of Tesfaye, and one of the themes inevitably will concern how he is not like the songs he writes and sings. Even though his early media narrative leaned heavily on his misspent youth as a quasi-homeless Dionysian hustler set loose on the streets of Toronto. But now that he’s famous, he insists, he’s a changed man. Sometimes this is conveyed in literal terms. (“When people meet me, they say I’m really kind — contrary to a lot of my music,” he told Rolling Stone in 2015.) And sometimes this is expressed via anecdotal information (like the bit in his 2021 GQ profile about how he apologized, like a good Canadian, for showing up seven minutes late to an interview).

I take Tesfaye at his word that he is not a misogynist ingesting Scarface-levels of blow on the regular. But a lot of critics don’t pay him the same courtesy. The reception to his star-crossed HBO series The Idol — and the accompanying exposé alleging skeezy behind-the-scenes behavior — suggests a media compulsion to reveal the alleged real-life scumbag behind the artistic façade.

In that way, Tesfaye is still linked with the indie artists he came up with. And I’m not talking about the other folks lumped under the “Hipster R&B” banner. I instead refer to his duet partner on “Prisoner,” Lizzie Grant aka Lana Del Rey, and Josh Tillman, whose debut as Father John Misty arrived the year after Tesfaye’s opening salvo of mixtapes eventually collected on 2012’s platinum-selling Trilogy. What these three artists shared in the early 2010s was an interest in adopting transgressive identities that subsequently confused, enraged and/or enraptured critics, who as a group tend to be way too literal-minded when it comes to reading lyrics as straight autobiography. Regular listeners, in fact, tend to be more sophisticated in that regard. (Or they just care less about the words.) In comparison to the indie artists associated with the Trump era, who were more careful to present the “correct” morals and ideologies, these elder millennials reveled in explicitly “bad” personas while also gently distancing their “real” selves from them.

I call this “The Power Of The Theoretical Asshole.” There’s a long tradition of this in popular music, just as there is in every mass market artistic medium. The rogue, the anti-hero, the difficult man (or woman) — audiences have always lapped up this sort of thing, even when they periodically make a show of condemning it. And nobody has exploited this ingrained human impulse more in music in the past decade than The Weeknd.

23. “D.D.” (2011)

I had mixed feelings about Trilogy, particularly the songs from the other two mixtapes, Thursday and Echoes Of Silence. After House Of Balloons, The Weeknd seemed woefully bereft of ideas, favoring samey-sounding, draggy ballads with ridiculously disreputable lyrics. His first proper album, 2013’s Kiss Land, was even worse, and it started to look like he might go the way of so many other “Hipster R&B” also-rans.

And then he made Beauty Behind The Madness, one of the most shameless (and best) “sellout” records of modern times. Frank Ocean would never write songs with Max Martin, and that’s why people love him. But The Weeknd absolutely would, and that’s why people love him. Beauty Behind The Madness is where he officially left “Hipster R&B” behind, and detonated the genre from the inside.

The sellout era is where I signed on as a fan. Initially my attraction to Beauty Behind The Madness was as Michael Jackson methadone. I’m a lifelong MJ fan, which has some obvious baggage I don’t want to get into lest my inbox be filled with messages from the least rational lunatics on God’s green Earth. I have found my Michael Jackson methadone from various places — the first two Justin Timberlake albums, the third Tame Impala LP, etc. But The Weeknd has been my most consistent supplier.

It’s not a perfect replication. Tesfaye’s vocals are reminiscent of MJ’s, but only his softest and least virtuosic mode. That hard, rhythmic, aggressive thing that Jackson can also lean into — see “Smooth Criminal” or the most paranoid and delusional songs from Dangerous and HIStory: Past, Present, And Future, Book 1 — eludes him. Which isn’t his fault: Michael Jackson was one of the greatest singers who ever lived, and Abel Tesfaye is not.

And then there’s the matter of genuine darkness vs. performative darkness. Abel Tesfaye is a nice guy (presumably!) playing a monster. And Michael Jackson is a monster (allegedly!) playing a nice guy. The text of The Weekend’s songs can’t touch the subtext of Michael Jackson’s songs when it comes to contemplating the blackest voids of human existence. Which is to say that The Weeknd’s cover of “Dirty Diana” doesn’t have nearly the depths of psychosexual drama that Jackson brings to the original. But it’s an essential text for understanding Tesfaye’s work regardless.

22. “Kiss Land” (2013)

I used to think this song was terrible. But now I appreciate its terribleness. When he sings “You can meet me in the room where the kisses ain’t free / you gotta pay with your bo-dy” it’s like he’s doing a “Weird” Al version of a Weeknd song.

21. “In The Night” (2015)

The most blatant MJ rip-off on Beauty Behind The Madness, even more than one of the album’s two signature songs, “Can’t Feel My Face.” According to a New York Times article, the head of Sony Music Publishing responded ecstatically to hearing “In The Night” for the first time by exclaiming, “It’s ‘Billie Jean’! It’s ‘Billie fucking Jean’!” Actually the music (or at least the rhythm) is more reminiscent of “The Way You Make Me Feel.” Though the lyrics — which allude to childhood sexual abuse — do evoke that aforementioned baggage that we’re not going to get into right now.

20. “Alone Again” (2020)

Beauty Behind The Madness was The Weeknd’s commercial breakthrough, but After Hours is his pop-music masterstroke. It is the decade’s finest example of “stadium pop,” a term that Questlove once used to describe Michael Jackson’s follow-up to Thriller, 1987’s Bad, in Spike Lee’s documentary about the album. Only Tesfaye couldn’t perform the songs from After Hours in actual stadiums until more than two years after the album was released. But you get a sense of that record’s hugeness when you watch the 2023 concert film, The Weeknd: Live At SoFi Stadium, or listen to the accompanying LP, which I would argue presents the songs at least as well as the studio record. This is certainly true of “Alone Again,” which opens the album and the show, where the isolation of the lyrics is juxtaposed with the throngs of 70,000 people staring down the red-suited, masked, and Joker-ified Tesfaye. And like that, The Power Of The Theoretical Asshole has been fully harnessed.

19. “Sacrifice” (2022)

My favorite album by The Weeknd is Dawn FM, which is also the weakest selling release of his post-sellout era. Is it possible that I am, at heart, a “Hipster R&B” guy? I plead “not guilty” to those charges! But the general public certainly seemed to be bewildered by the downbeat, conceptual nature of this record. Dawn FM is a strange beast, obsessed with death and spiritual rebirth and narrated by a zombified Jim Carrey. Musical speaking, however, Dawn FM picks up where After Hours leaves off, especially the record’s thrilling first half, which unleashes one stadium pop banger after another. (Dawn FM is the rare Weeknd album that is front-loaded rather than back-loaded — he typically comes out of the gate a bit slow and then closes strong.) A highlight of that opening salvo is this roided-out disco-funk track, which is clearly cut from the Off The Wall mold.

18. “Gasoline” (2022)

Another heater from the front half of Dawn FM, only this time the reference point is icy eighties English synth pop. Tesfaye slips, hilariously, into an arch faux British accent on the verses in a manner that evokes The Human League. He also namedrops R.E.M., and pairs it with what may or may not be a reference to the third studio album by The Cure. (Coincidentally or not, he nods to “Losing My Religion” on the song “Faith,” from After Hours.) This gumbo of disparate musical allusions is another foundational element for Tesfaye, and it goes back to his childhood. “I was the kid wearing the Pink Floyd shirt and listening to Ginuwine in my ear,” he once recalled to Rolling Stone.

17. “How Do I Make You Love Me?” (2022)

(This song must be placed at No. 17, as it follows “Gasoline” on the record and the pacing of Dawn FM simply cannot be trifled with.)

16. “Party Monster” (2016)

The philosophical concerns of Dawn FM — mortality, the afterlife, the deadening effects of media and materialism, etc. — are relatively elevated for an album by The Weeknd. For the most part, the man is preoccupied by writing songs about getting wasted, hooking up with some anonymous rando, and then brooding about the experience with a mix of self-hatred and menacing swagger. There’s plenty of both in this song, which also is infused with the atmosphere of the eighties thrillers to which Tesfaye nods throughout his work. You can plainly hear the synths that evoke prime-era John Carpenter, as well as the mix of filthy-old-man eroticism and ugly violence associated with David Cronenberg. Actually, “erotic” probably isn’t the right word, as “Party Monster” isn’t remotely sexy. Tesfaye regards the sex in his songs like the average slasher-flick director thinks about the fornicating teens in his films. Sex is an activity associated with dread and ultimate destruction, not, you know, pleasure.

It goes back to The Power Of The Theoretical Asshole. There are three reasons why audiences crave this act from entertainers. 1) Bad guys are more interesting (and fun) than good guys; 2) Escapism from Judeo-Christian/common everyday decency norms; 3) Catharsis. But the allure of asshole-dom sits side-by-side with extreme guilt and shame. We must indulge, but we must also be punished.

The Weeknd understands this. In his songs, badness and punishment always arrive simultaneously. You get the “party,” but you also get stuck with the “monster.”

15. “High For This” (2011)

Tesfaye somehow rose to prominence during an era when his type of thing was openly reviled in pop culture. But he did not skate through without scrutiny. In a 2015 cover story, Rolling Stone took him to task for his habit of depicting sexual encounters in his lyrics that occur under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The magazine singled out this particular song, a defining number of his “Hipster R&B” era, for criticism. (It also focused on the far more despicable “Initiation,” in which a woman is made to sleep with the scumbag protagonist’s buddies before she can be with him.) In terms of his “problematic drug-fueled sex” songs, “High For This” is the ur-text, starting with the title. It’s more subtle that simply calling the song “I Hump On Drugs,” but just barely. But it’s also just a song, with a sick but presumably fictional premise. Pressing Tesfaye for an apology — “Everything is consent,” he awkwardly insisted to the magazine — is like guilt-tripping David Cronenberg for all of the imaginary “intercourse with TV sets” action that goes down in Videodrome. The point of “High For This” is to make you feel bad in a tuneful, catchy way, and in that respect it is an unmitigated success.

14. “House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls” (2011)

A sister song to “Party Monster.” The synth line has the same “eighties horror movie” feel, and the lyrics likewise dwell on a “Jesse Pinkman with PTSD”-style party where people do dirty things from which they derive zero happiness. What makes this two-part track marginally more effective is that Tesfaye was closer to his own youthful “decadent party” life when he made it. And the production being somewhat less pristine actually enhances the scuzzy atmosphere. If “Party Monster” is Scream, “House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls” is The Last House On The Left.

13. “Heartless” (2020)

During the pandemic, I decided to introduce my kids to songs about problematic, drug-fueled sex via The Highlights, the rare modern day “greatest hits” album. It’s appropriate that The Weeknd embraced his format — his catalog is tailor-made for the best-of compilation treatment. All his proper albums have the same flaw, which is having at least four or five too many songs. (He also has a strange habit of putting the best track — or even the biggest hit — at the end of the record.) But The Highlights is a perfect hits collection, and it makes a convincing case for The Weeknd being the best male pop star of the last 10 years. I have played this album on countless family trips, and it’s the music (like pre-scandal Michael Jackson) that everyone seems to agree on. Even a song like “Heartless,” which is about how The Weeknd is heartless, for all of the reasons we have already enumerated.

12. “After Hours” (2020)

It’s one of the best songs on his second-best record, so of course it’s the penultimate entry on the track list. Tesfaye has said an inspiration for the record was the 1985 Martin Scorsese film of the same name, and this song comes closest to matching that movie’s vibe of relentless, nocturnal paranoia. He’s in a waking nightmare he can’t escape; he just wants to lay next to his girl and “share babies / protection, we won’t need.” Is there a woman alive who could possibly resist that sales pitch?

11. “Starboy” (2016)

I’m joking, of course. “Share babies” is an odd rhetorical construction I have yet to wrap my head around. No matter: Like I said earlier, many songs by The Weeknd (including the great ones) have an element of dumbness. Sometimes it’s intentional, sometimes it’s not. This is not a criticism. Or, at least, it’s not a unique criticism. Every classic pop song lists “dumbness” among its primary ingredients. But sometimes The Weeknd sprinkles a little more dumbness than usual for extra flavor. “Starboy” is a classic example. “I’m a motherfucking Starboy” is a very dumb line, and it will not leave your head for at least three days after hearing it. You will, involuntarily, introduce yourself as “a motherfucking Starboy” to strangers. And those strangers will think you sound even sillier than The Weeknd when he says it. It’s just how it works.

10. “Can’t Feel My Face” (2015)

Upon the song’s release, “Starboy” scanned as an ironic commentary on the popularity of the previous record, Beauty Behind The Madness. But then, when The Weeknd headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022 and opened with “Starboy,” it no longer seemed ironic. He was now, clearly, a motherfucking Starboy. “Can’t Feel My Face” followed a similarly trajectory. When it came out, the obvious cocaine reference in the title felt like a nod to old fans potentially put off by his new mainstream pop trappings. And then the song became one of the most inescapable smashes of the mid-2010s, and the druggy naughtiness was completely strip-mined out of its core. Now, “Can’t Feel My Face” seems positively wholesome by Weeknd standards.

9. “Less Than Zero” (2022)

What does relative wholesomeness do to a man who has harnessed The Power Of The Theoretical Asshole? It causes him to record a song like “Less Than Zero,” in which he approaches contrition: “I’ll always be less than zero / You tried your best with me, I know.” Naturally, he does this under the guise of a Bret Easton Ellis reference, just to let you know that the “theoretically asshole”-ness of it all hasn’t been fully abandoned. Meanwhile, the specter of “Hipster R&B” also lurks — if this song wasn’t at least partly influenced by A Deeper Understanding I’ll never write another word about The War On Drugs again.

8. “In Your Eyes” (2020)

We are entering the heart of The Highlights territory here. “I just pretend / that I’m in the dark,” he sings at the start of this song, and it feels like a confession. The big hits from After Hours strike a balance between deepening The Weeknd’s inter-album mythos — the man definitely has a weakness for grouping records into trilogies — and operating as pure candy-cotton pop songs.

7. “Save Your Tears” (2020)

Like this song, for instance, one of Tesfaye’s sweetest confections. Though he does manage to smuggle some bile inside that indelible eighties pop music beamed from the shiniest roller rink in the sky. He spies a former love on the dance floor and feels a tinge of bitterness when he sees her having fun. But then she spots him, with a theatrical “single teardrop falling” from her eye, and he relishes her still-broken heart. He claims to want her back but you don’t believe him. Because this is bubblegum pop laced with strychnine, like a Wham! song written by This Year’s Model era Elvis Costello.

6. “The Morning” (2011)

Tesfaye once described his childhood, with questionable sensitivity, as “Kids without the AIDS.” That’s the vibe of this song. Yes, there are some lyrical clunkers. (“Girls get timid / but behind closed doors they get poles so rigid.” Groan.) But there’s a reason why Tesfaye got people’s attention with relative quickness and then built an all-time pop career. He transformed amoral grime into riveting, seductive listens.

5. “What You Need” (2011)

Oh, and he also had a ton of promotional help from Drake. Can’t forget that! Though Drake, in the long run, (allegedly!) took more than his share from The Weeknd in return. Just how much Tesfaye contributed to Drake’s best album, 2011’s Take Care, has been disputed. Tesfaye claims Drake plundered nearly half of House Of Balloons, while Drake has denied that claim. But the evidence that Drake jacked The Weeknd’s vibe is plainly discernible in this song, which sounds like the blueprint for Drake’s sad-guy horn-dog act during the rest of the 2010s.

4. “Take My Breath” (2022)

The first 85 seconds of this song are about as awesome as stadium pop gets. (The Live At SoFi Stadium version is even better, because you can hear the audience lose their minds.)

3. “Blinding Lights” (2020)

‘‘These kids, you know, they don’t have a Michael Jackson. They don’t have a Prince. They don’t have a Whitney. Who else is there? Who else can really do it at this point?’’ Abel Tesfaye said that 10 years ago. I admire the metric ton of chutzpah required to make such a bold declaration publicly. And I appreciate that he was actually able to realize his stadium-pop ambitions, with this song being his greatest achievement. It’s one thing to emulate Michael Jackson, but to create a song to approaches his level of ubiquity must be saluted in these famously fractured and hero (or anti-hero) deficient times. Even if “Blinding Lights” sucked I would have to put it in the top three. But, thankfully, it does the opposite of suck.

2. “I Feel It Coming” (2016)

Daft Punk’s unexpected role as the Quincy Jones of the 2010s truly reached its apotheosis here, my kids’ favorite track by The Weeknd. It sounds so sweet that the kiddies never notice the line about “the heat between your legs” in the minivan. (If they have noticed they haven’t told me, which is just as well.) It helps that this is the rare Weeknd sex song where both involved parties appear to be mostly sober, at least in the first verse. But this is a song I never tire of hearing. It’s like “Get Lucky” if I weren’t sick to death of “Get Lucky.”

1. “The Hills” (2015)

Is there a more quintessential lyric by The Weekend than “when I’m fucked up that’s the real me”? It’s not the real Abel Tesfaye, but it’s definitely the purest manifestation of his creative Id. Out of all these songs, none has more “theoretical asshole” energy than “’The Hills.” And none sound quite as enormous as this song. “The Hills” is “Hipster R&B” blown up by a factor of 100 million, which is also the number of records that Michael Jackson wanted Bad to sell. He didn’t get there, nor will anyone else. But The Weeknd did perform “The Hills” at the Super Bowl, which seems like some kind of accomplishment, particularly if you like the idea of 120 million people having a communal moment over a song about (surprise!) loveless sex in the Hollywood Hills. Given that America feels (emotionally speaking) ensconced in its own “loveless sex” era, blindly chasing short-term thrills in lieu of lasting sustenance, “The Hills” is exactly the national anthem we want and deserve.