June, 2015. You were a close acquaintance of the chart-climbing artist The Weeknd, who was actively spending his days and nights in the studio now that he dreamed of releasing his second studio album before summer would end. While he still was a little unsure on what to title the album, you recall how he mentioned how the words ‘beauty’ and ‘madness’ had a nice dramatic ring to them - and as part of the XO family yourself, you could only nod in agreement to his decisions regarding his album.

One sweltering night, as you lay in bed with heavy eyes, the IPhone laying right beside your pillow buzzed. You lit up your phone screen with a lazy grunt: 1:13 AM. Curious to know who the hell had the pleasant idea to text you this late, your eyes slightly widened as you read your inbox: Abel.

”u up?” was the nonchalant message he had left. Yet, before you could type anything back so as to question his intentions, Tesfaye had already left another message: ”meet me in the studio. need ur help”. You rolled your eyes and decided not to question the lack of context. Instead, you stood up, grabbed your keys, and slipped into your shoes.

– – – – –

The studio door swung open with a creak, and Abel’s curious gaze switched to one of please as his eyes narrowed with a grin. “So glad you could make it,” he said rather insouciant, hiding his toothy grin with a simple closed-mouth smile from ear-to-ear. He stepped aside for you to walk in, and you immediately noticed the lingering smell of weed as well as the handful of scribbled-on balls of paper scattered around the table.