The R&B antihero’s ambitious compilation cloaks pop ambition in nihilism

Toronto R&B enigma Abel Tesfaye presents his landmark trifecta of mixtapes in one bleak, woozy stretch. Over Trilogy’s three hours, we descend ever deeper into the antihero’s decadent universe: Tesfaye pours Alizé in his cereal over bleary synth washes on “The Morning,” and that’s about as PG as he gets. But for all its doomy R&B nihilism—"House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls" combines sex, drugs, and Siouxsie samples—"D.D." hints at Tesfaye's interest in joining pop’s one-gloved upper echelon.