House Of Balloons/Glass Table Girls is a song by Abel Tesfaye aka ‘The Weeknd’ from the album ‘House Of Balloons/Glass Table Girls’. It was released in 2011 around the time when The Weeknd was not yet recognized as a star, however he was gaining attention.
Background and Explanation
So, the song depicts Abel’s dark past. Abel had a crazy life. He changed several schools and he dropped out of school at the age of 17 to live in an apartment with his 2 friends which included his best friend and creative director La Mar Taylor.
He left one weekend and never went back home. So, it became the title that he later used.
I left home when I was about 17 dropped out of high school and convinced La Mar to do the same lol.
We grabbed our mattresses from our parents threw it in our friends s****y van and left one weekend and never came back home. It was gonna be the title of HOB.
I hated my name at the time though so I tried it as a stage name. It sounded cool. I took out the ‘e’ because there was already a Canadian band named The Weekend (copyright issues).
Abel Tesfaye
Now, The Weeknd talked about that period of his life comparing it with the 1995 movie ‘Kids’ (without the AIDS). The Weeknd describes his hedonistic lifestyle filled with partying, dr*gs, s*x etc through this song.
When I had nothing to do but make music, it was very heavy. Dr*gs were a crutch for me. There were songs on my first record that were seven minutes long, rambling — whatever thoughts I was having when I was under the influence at the time. I can’t see myself doing that now.
Abel Tesfaye
Abel and La Mar stole food from supermarkets and spent whatever money they had on dr*gs like coca*ne, mushrooms, cough syrup etc. He was living the typical street kid lifestyle in Toronto.
Abel in this song seems to be talking to his beloved girlfriend. So, the scene seems to be one where they are partying at his house.
When he talks about if its hard to breathe, open the window it refers to the fact that the girl gets suffocated by the intensity of the dr*g filled environment and that she should open the window.
Meanwhile, Abel describes the place as a happy house and that they are happy indulging in the bad habits.
The girl feels like she should leave but is probably enjoying herself and doesn’t do so. The Weeknd warns her to not blame him in case anything wrong happens as she wanted to have fun.
So, the tune actually switches up in the middle during the part of Glass Table Girls. It gets a bit more serious as they dive harder into the dr*gs.
Its probably about doing c*ke on glass tables and popping pills while having s*x. Overall, a pretty dark theme for a song although most of The Weeknd’s songs are pretty dark.
Overall, a great song by him. I like the House of Balloons part better compared to ‘Glass Table Girls’. The chorus is actually taken from a song by Siouxsie And The Banshees called Happy House.
Anyway guys, let me know your opinion in the comments below.
