Music Mondays: Tweaker, Hurry Up Tomorrow

It’s easy to fall into the Spotify abyss. I’ve been there the past few months, dwelling in liked songs, daily mixes, and even the occasional AI DJ dalliance. Although safe in the warm embrace of familiar music, I yearned for more. As host of “Feelin’ Good” on Richmond’s own WDCE 90.1 FM, do I have a duty to expose my listeners to the bleeding edge? As listeners, should we prioritize the novel and ambitious? What’s new? What’s fresh? Does it even matter? 

I don’t know. But in my Spotify turmoil, I unveiled a mystery on the platform. And solved it for myself! I was perusing the platform in an attempt to broaden my taste (listening to Hot Hits USA at the gym), when I came across a song with an impossibly exceptional title. 

“Tweaker” by GELO is a heavy hitter, to say the least. It’s catchy and fun, with that auto-tuned modern rap sound. But GELO doesn’t seem to be taking himself too seriously with lines like: “You wanna tweak it up with me then I’ma show you how that go.” I’ll be honest, it’s hard not to pick up what he’s putting down. “Tweaker” definitely isn’t for everyone, but I was having fun, and I soon realized I wasn't the only one. 

“Tweaker” is a hit with over 47 million streams on Spotify in its first month of release. It’s GELO’s first song… and he seems to have tweaked his way to nearly 6 million monthly listeners. 

Woah. Who is this guy? I was filled with the naive yearnings for a one-hit-wonder. As a kid, I loved the idea that if you just came up with a hit, you could be set for life. I used to sit around and try to hum something that I could imagine being hummed by millions without them even realizing it. That was power. Something about “Tweaker” felt right. GELO blew up overnight, and maybe I could too. 

But my hopes for sudden star power were soon crushed. Through some research, I found that GELO was a stage name for the NBA G League basketball player LiAngelo Ball. “Tweaker,” rather than a sudden rise to the top, was just a successful attempt to enter the music industry, coming from a guy with an established career, famous brothers, and an incredibly supportive father. GELO’s line, “And I started from the bottom, just like you, but I was harder (Way harder) I came up a… soldier… shout out to my father,” hints at this relationship. 

After high school, Ball played for a season in the JBA, a league started by his father, during its sole year of existence. Nevertheless, “Tweaker,” albeit catchy, is hardly representative of a break-out star, rather just one G League player’s foray into the “tweak” of the modern music industry. 

Although I was disappointed, “Tweaker” was a good discovery, one that altered my musical monotony. But an entire reservoir of beats was about to be uncovered from a much more likely source. 

The Weeknd’s new album Hurry Up Tomorrow is in a word: melodious. It’s chock-full of the classic Weeknd sound: angelic vocals, irresistible beats, and the Starboy’s quintessential evil charm. The album starts strong with “Wake Me Up,” featuring Justice. The Weeknd seems to have solidified his style. Most of his songs, “Wake Me Up” included, are blurring the lines between melodic sound and something else that can only be described as angelic. 

There were points in this song that felt hymnal, and this tendency is carried into the rest of the album. I listened to it at the gym, and at one point, the recurring bass thump of “São Paulo,” featuring Anitta, began to match my heartbeat. It immediately connected us (me and the Weeknd). 

If Weeknd wasn’t your cup of seduction-flavored tea before, I’m not saying that Hurry Up Tomorrow will change that, but if you are like me and looking to diversify, Diapers’ newest album might just have something to offer. Whatever the case, my journey for new music this week was fruitful, but maybe it is the Weeknd full of Tweakers that will really Open my Heart. 

Contact contributing writer Maddox Lowe at maddox.lowe@richmond.edu