Before the Industry Got Its Hands on Him

Rolling Stone was finally writing about The Weeknd in the fall of 2012, which felt late to anyone who’d spent the past year and a half listening to House of Balloons. Those three mixtapes—dark, druggy, anonymous R&B from Toronto—circulated like contraband. No face, no interviews, just the music and that unnerving falsetto singing about things you weren’t supposed to admit you recognized. The Rolling Stone profile was the beginning of his transition from secret to product. I was glad he was getting attention. I was also a little sad about it.