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The Weeknd · S4 E2
Belong to the World
Sampling Portishead, alienating pop radio, and choosing art over accessibility
A studio monitor in a Republic Records office plays the opening seconds of "Belong to the World," and everyone in the room hears it immediately: that is Portishead's "Machine Gun" underneath Abel's voice. The call to Portishead's management does not go well.
Portishead, Machine Gun (2008). The lead single from Third, Portishead's comeback album after an eleven-year silence. Beth Gibbons' voice cuts through militaristic electronic beats that sound like a transmission from a war zone. Abel heard this track and knew exactly what he wanted to build on top of it. The result would make one of his favorite bands very unhappy.
Machine Gun, Portishead (2008)
Portishead came back after eleven years and released something that sounded nothing like the trip-hop they were known for. "Machine Gun" is built on a single stuttering beat that sounds like a broken drum machine having a panic attack, with Beth Gibbons singing over it like she is trying to be heard through static. Listen for how the production never resolves: there is no release, no drop, no moment of comfort. That restlessness is exactly what Abel wanted for "Belong to the World," and he took it.
The Transplant
Abel didn't just sample "Machine Gun." He rebuilt it. The stuttering electronic pulse of Portishead's original becomes the backbone of "Belong to the World," stretched and layered by Illangelo and Doc McKinney until it sounds both reverential and entirely new.
TAP TO REVEAL: How did Portishead react to the sample?
“When someone asks to sample you and you refuse they should have the respect as a fellow artist to not use it.”
— Geoff Barrow (Portishead), Twitter, July 2013
The Road Not Taken
"Belong to the World" was never going to be a radio single. Abel chose a sample that alienated pop programmers, wrote lyrics about a woman who belongs to everyone and no one, and let the production breathe at a pace that demands patience. In a year where Robin Thicke and Daft Punk owned the airwaves, Kiss Land was the opposite of what the market wanted.
Wanderlust, The Weeknd
"Wanderlust" is the most radio-friendly moment on Kiss Land, a shimmering synth-pop track that Pharrell Williams liked enough to remix as a single. It proves Abel could have chased pop crossover anytime he wanted. He chose not to, and that choice is what makes Kiss Land the album it is.
Wanderlust, The Weeknd (2013)
Underneath the pop sheen, Abel is still writing about the same emptiness: chasing sensation across cities, mistaking movement for meaning. The brightest song on Kiss Land is still about someone who cannot stop running.
How long was the gap between Portishead's second album and Third, the record Abel sampled?
Republic Records needs a commercial lifeline for Kiss Land, and there is only one phone call to make. Drake picks up, and the Toronto reunion that follows will be the last time these two sound like they are on the same team.
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