"Twenty Eight" is a song by the Canadian singer-songwriter

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

, featured as a bonus track on the version of his debut mixtape '' House of Balloons'' (2011). It was released as the album's second single on November 13, 2012, by XO and

Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

. The song only appears on the reissue of the mixtape that is included with his 2012 compilation album, ''

Trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

''. The song was recorded at Site Sound Studios and mixed at Liberty Studios in Toronto. Producers

Doc McKinney Martin "Doc" McKinney (born August 27, 1971) is a Canadian Americans, Canadian-American record producer and songwriter. He was formerly one half of the duo (now solo act) Esthero. McKinney is widely credited with developing The Weeknd's sound as ...

and

Illangelo Carlo Montagnese (born July 29, 1987), known professionally as Illangelo, is a Canadian record producer, songwriter and mixing engineer who came to attention as long-time collaborator of The Weeknd. Having executive produced his 2011 mixtapes c ...

co-wrote the song and performed all instrumentation. Many early songs by Tesfaye are about him tricking, manipulating and cheating on his girlfriends, but in "Twenty Eight" the roles are reversed. The song is named "Twenty Eight" due to there being 28 grams in an

ounce The ounce () is any of several different units of mass, weight, or volume and is derived almost unchanged from the , an Ancient Roman unit of measurement. The avoirdupois ounce (exactly ) is avoirdupois pound; this is the United States ...

, which is something important for drug dealers to know. The song is also the twenty eighth official release by Tesfaye. The song as a whole has been compared to

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

and Miguel, while Tesfaye's vocals specifically have been compared to

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

. "Twenty Eight" was first heard by the general public when Tesfaye sent the track to DJ

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

, who in turn played the song on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. Tesfaye would make his first appearance on the show for an interview later that month. The song charted at number 150 on the UK Singles Chart and at number 49 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales, and is also certified Platinum in the US.

Music video

The music video for "Twenty Eight" premiered on February 13, 2013, on the Weeknd's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

account. It was filmed in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and was directed by photographer/director

Nabil Elderkin Nabil Elderkin (born February 11, 1982) is an American-born Australian film and music video director and photographer, who is of Iranian and American descent. He is mononymously credited as Nabil in his videos. Elderkin has directed videos for ...

. The video features Tesfaye on a talk show, with him being unable to focus due to seeing visions of his ex girlfriend. The video is incredibly sexual, featuring many nude women/strippers. Due to the explicit portrayal of

breasts The breasts are two prominences located on the upper ventral region of the torso among humans and other primates. Both sexes develop breasts from the same embryology, embryological tissues. The relative size and development of the breasts is ...

in the video, it has been age-restricted on YouTube.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes for ''

''. * Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) – lead vocals, songwriting/composition, additional production * Carlo Montagnese (Illangelo) – production, songwriting, mixing, recording engineer * Martin McKinney (Doc McKinney) – production, songwriting, recording engineer * Shin Kamiyama – assistant recording engineer *

– music video director * Isaac Hagy – music video editor

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{The Weeknd songs 2012 songs 2012 singles The Weeknd songs Songs written by the Weeknd Songs written by Illangelo Songs written by Doc McKinney Republic Records singles XO (record label) singles Song recordings produced by Illangelo Song recordings produced by Doc McKinney Song recordings produced by the Weeknd Music videos directed by Nabil Elderkin