The Weeknd’s After Hours time is formally dead. In case you stress that the melodic change personality of Abel Tesfaye would withdraw to less debaucherous pastures, “Take My Breath” demonstrates that the Weeknd is as yet game for a bacchanalian adventure—even one highlighting a little autoerotic suffocation. No enchantment has been lost in the meantime: “Take My Breath” catches a similar high as 2019’s “Blinding Lights,” rejoining him with the track’s makers, Max Martin and Oscar Holter. Martin’s craftsmanship is all around the track, from the swaggering introduction (which ultimately offers approach to shimmering Moroder synths) to the amazingly irresistible tune.
Right away, the verses are common Weeknd charge: The prominent party beast ends up ensnared in red hot sexual relations. Just this time, his darling needs to go a bit further: She’ll hazard everything to make the joy keep going forever. (Goodness, that is what’s going on with the tune.) The Weeknd is down—to a degree. “You’re way too young to end your life,” he warns his paramour. “Girl, I don’t wanna be the one who pays the price.” But any faltering is cleared away by the lustrous, dance floor-prepared chorale, which is interspersed by an all around put cymbal. He might be losing oxygen, yet he sounds loaded with life.
