The Weeknd – Beauty Behind The Madness
It would be rare for me to have a US number one on any list, but that's why this struck me so profoundly. This record brought together, for me, the kind of bedroom community sound – the wave of bedroom producers – with this new powerhouse, Max Martin, who's behind Britney, who's behind the Backstreet Boys. He brought his weight to it. And I thought there was a beautiful synergy behind those two ideals, those two ways of working.

For me it was really a litmus test. That this record could go to a US number one. This makes ours look PG, y'know? It makes my sex songs sound like nursery rhymes, like sex ed for young kids. He's pretty out-there and it gave me a lot of licence. On 'Often' I love the way he creates a mythology around himself: "Girl I do this often /Make that pussy poppin' /Do it how I want it…" It's pretty outrageous. He's this kind of Byronic character but in the very modern way.