On Wednesday, the Weeknd posted a screenshot of a text conversation between him and his creative director, La Mar Taylor. With a supposedly important image cropped just out of sight, his text read: “Should we drop Friday? I’m indifferent to be honest.”

The following night, Abel Tesfaye dropped his latest project, My Dear Melancholy,. (No, that comma is not a typo.) What surfaced appeared to be the antithesis of the Weeknd’s shiny, star-studded Starboy album from 2016. With only one featured artist across six tracks, My Dear Melancholy, at first seems like a meager and bizarre offering from the pop superstar. Here are a few things to know going in.

Familiar Toronto Collaborators + a Few New Producers

Gesaffelstein, the French techno artist who served as one of Yeezus’ many producers, may be the only contributor who got a formal feature, but plenty of other interesting producers and songwriters lurk within the credits of My Dear Melancholy,. The project is executive produced by the Weeknd himself and Frank Dukes, the Canadian producer who’s worked with A-listers ranging from Frank Ocean to Selena Gomez (Tesfaye’s ex). Abel likes to keep it somewhat local, too, so the credits are littered with fellow Torontonians and former collaborators like producers DaHeala and Cirtuk. The rapper Belly, from Ottawa and signed to the Weeknd’s XO label, is also listed as lyricist and composer on “Try Me.” Looking beyond the Canadians, Atlanta hitmaker Mike WiLL Made-It also has production credit on “Try Me,” while pop’s secret weapon Starrah has a songwriting credit on “Wasted Time.”

Along with Gesaffelstein, fellow electronic-music producers Skrillex and Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo are also in the mix. Curiously, Nicolas Jaar gets a mention in the credits of “Call Out My Name,” but is listed as lyricist and composer instead of the production credit you might expect of the Darkside member. Which of the sultry, sad lines did Jaar pen on this song seemingly about Selena? The world may never know.

Not Quite an EP, Not Quite a LP

MDM is listed as an EP on Spotify, but the Weeknd’s own newsletter referred to it as an album. In the official Republic Records press release, they take care to only call it a “project.” So what the heck is it? MDM’s awkward 6-track length places the project into a limbo state that feels a little strange by conventional industry standards. Maybe Tesfaye heard that we were over the super long pop album, a trend propelled by today’s streaming economy. But industry experts have pointed out that pop artists are starting to release EPs or singles in more frequent intervals to satiate their constantly demanding, yet easily distracted consumers. Who knows if that was his strategy, but for what it’s worth, the 18-track Starboy seemed a little like streambait.

MDM ultimately benefits from the ambiguity of its format. Touted as an album, MDM gets the buzz and consumer attention of a surprise full-length release, despite its shorter length. But since it comes across more like an EP, MDM has less pressure to be a commercial or critical success, due to the perception that it’s not “as serious” of a project. Even Tesfaye’s flippant attitude towards releasing it makes it seem like he just had a weird amount of songs and he decided on a whim to put them out.