“The Idol” has been the TV season’s spite-watch de rigueur – a mess of untenably dated misogyny, homophobia, angry interpersonal sexual violence and traumatic hair styles, all of it justified in the service of reminding the world: Never trust a dude with a rat tail.
Despite that, the show’s icily epic music — made by its creators and actors, in and out of character — has been mesmerizing… thrillingly so, even. The music was initially broken down as a series of EPs released between June 9-30, and now those weekly teasers are captured in full on “The Idol (Music from the HBO Original Series),” a soundtrack that stands as a far more rewarding and cohesive document than its televised counterpart.
The collection kicks off with “The Lure (Main Theme)” from the Weeknd and Mike Dean — aka “muthafucking” Mike Dean, the self-proclaimed stoner, vintage-synth-heavy producer-composer who played a heightened version of himself on the series with more bong smoke than a Cheech & Chong movie. With that intro, its creators pull you into a tactile sonic atmosphere that’s chilly and slimy. If clambience — clammy ambience — was never a genre before “The Idol,” then Grammy committee members, take note.
The template for that dank, dramatic tone provides the Weeknd with some of the best sonic beds of his career, whether they come in ballad or banger form. If he was looking, as he’s stated in interviews, to create a soundtrack to his “Idol” story that borrowed from the grand theatricality of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and Prince’s “Purple Rain” while taking himself to the next level, he goes a long way toward accomplishing that mission here.
Sure, many of the Weeknd’s tracks are a bit on the nose, lyrically, when it comes to representing the sinister, covetous control freak within the role of Tedros and the action taking place on screen. Yet singing in character has sharpened the Weeknd’s instincts as a vocalist while broadening the cinematic breadth he shares with co-writer Dean, in a way that could be memorable for listeners even if they haven’t witnessed “The Idol.”
There is uplifting elegance and a decaying, down-tuned melodicism to the Weeknd’s “Like a God” and “False Idols” (a collab with Lil Baby and Suzanna Son). The former talks of a divine overseer’s reign, “making you hurt again, so you can heal and say ‘Amen.’” The latter, as heard during the (apparent) finale of “The Idol,” reminds us and his other characters to “Be careful with who you call a God, I can’t go without my pole and my rod… Made a hundred million, must be good at my job.”
The whistle-through-the-wire melody line and foot-stomping pulse of “A Lesser Man,” along with an ’80s-heavy “Take Me Back,” allow a quavering-voiced Weeknd – or Tedros – some deep, bluesman-like reveals. “Far away from my home, in this hot-ass town, my blood’s still cold,” he sings on the former, while Autotuning his own past and its display of vulnerability to include “I’ve been manipulated a hundred times” on the latter.
So noirish and haunting are these last two cuts, they’d sound right at home on his 2020 “After Hours” album. Still, little prepares us for the naked defenselessness of “Jealous Guy.” Covering John Lennon’s shivering, most sensitive lyrics to the accompaniment of Dean’s windy, barely-there soundscape is brilliant. Perhaps Tedros is playing a brand of emotional rope-a-dope with the often-put-upon characters of “The Idol,” but the Weeknd is playing for keeps with that poignant, heart-tugging vocal.
Painting a (Manson) family portrait of those who’ve chosen to follow Tedros’ mean screed are songs such as “Get It B4,” “False Idols” and “Family.” “Idol” co-star and angelic vocalist Moses Sumney’s shimmering “Get It B4” is the fam’s solo standout, and its most deeply rhythmic. Featuring the Weeknd with Suzanna Son (who plays the sweet-spirited house songwriter Chloe), “False Idols” and “Family,” together, are tender recognitions of union and dysfunction, wrapped up in the spiritual bliss of release. Think of these songs as gospel music with a glad-to-be-unhappy luster.
As for the woman at the center of “The Idol” – actor and vocalist Lily-Rose Depp’s deeply pained Jocelyn — her transition from adored plastic princess (“World Class Sinner/I’m a Freak”) to a flesh-and-blood adult in possession of her fantasies and fears (“Fill the Void”) is brusque and bold. Depp is a surprisingly effective, low-voiced vocalist who pulls off the role of wounded pop star with stunning accuracy, as both a singer and as an actor.
A plurality of viewers may not be in a huge hurry to see whether or not “The Idol” is or isn’t renewed, but this inversely satisfying soundtrack won’t do anything to dampen the enthusiasm of those of us who can’t wait to hear what his immediate future holds, musically.
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