The Weeknd — D.D. (Dirty Diana)

The Weeknd is not your average R&B chanteur. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter behind the stage name (real name Abel Tesfaye) has quickly become the hottest singer on the planet, thanks to a Twitter nod from rapper Drake months ago.

Since then, Tesfaye has released three mixtapes—Houseof Balloons, Thursday, and the December 22 release of  Echoes of Silence—all of which will be packaged as a  re-mastered trilogy in 2012.

The Weeknd’s work can be best described as hellish R&B with sludgy, dark electro beats, and Tesfaye’s own angelic coo. The style suits him, as he’s notoriously mysterious and has only performed live less than a handful of times. However, he still has a high-profile friend in Drake by forming a group with the rapper called OVOXO (Drake is the OVO, October’s Very Own, and the Weeknd is the XO, standing for hugs and kisses).

Echoes of Silence features a number of killer tracks, namely D.D., a cover of Michael Jackson’s hard rock ode to grimy groupies, “Dirty Diana.”

In it, the Weeknd sounds eerily like the King of Pop, and treats the song with his usual dark and echoey beats.