Released two days before the Weeknd provided the halftime entertainment at Super Bowl LV, The Highlights also happened to arrive near the tenth anniversary of House of Balloons, the singer's debut mixtape. Considering where he's gone in that time, from a shadowy unknown to a global pop star, there's no knocking the impulse to look back. In February 2021, the Weeknd was still deep in the promotional cycle for After Hours, but it's nonetheless surprising that more selections are from that album -- including three singles that went Top Ten in his native Canada and the U.S. -- than any other Weeknd release. Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy, the two previous number one albums, are also well represented, leaving the remainder to be drawn from House of Balloons and the My Dear Melancholy, EP (while the second and third tapes and Kiss Land are shut out). This also gathers the hits that originated on the soundtracks for Fifty Shades of Grey and Black Panther, plus the Ariana Grande duet "Love Me Harder." The Highlights is a well-selected point of entry. That it rarely dips into album cuts and doesn't include all of the major singles speaks to the depth of the catalog.
Andy Kellman. Allmusic.com
