One of the first things that caught my attention when Wicked Games by The Weeknd got some radio play was the fact that, while it uses the “sex, drugs, money” tropes you hear so much on the radio, when you really listen to the lyrics you realize that it’s about a man begging a stripper to say she loves him. That combined with The Weeknd’s mournful tone and the alt-R&B style creates a song that shows the darker, sadder side of the fame and the riches.

Viewing the music in this light has created a story in my head that spans a lot of Abel’s music about a kid who just wanted to be famous, but then didn’t know how to handle the fame when he got it. The Weeknd’s music is about the pain and regret of looking back and seeing what you’ve become. Looking at the music in this way changes the perspective when you consider that in a Reddit AMA, when asked how much of his lyrics come from personal experience, he replied, “All of it.” He occasionally equates loving someone with understanding them (”I’ll never fall for a girl like you/ I’ll never understand what you’re going through” -Enemy). I consider his songs belonging to two categories: The Rise and The Fall.

The Rise



There are quite a few songs about the rise to stardom and all the things that come with it. Many, many songs describe the parties, the drugs, and the groupies. The Weeknd seems to have disdain for these women at the same time he associates with them (See “Next” and “Same Old Song”).

However, alongside these things is another motif: becoming a monster. Enemy is an admission that he is the bad guy in another person’s story (”I’d rather be your enemy/ Than any friend you think I could be”).

One of the more important songs to this part of the story is one of the darkest: Initiation. While never outright stating it, this song heavily implies a hazing via gangbang to initiate a girl into the crew (”I got a test for you/ You said you want my heart/ Well baby you can have it all/ There’s just something that I need from you/ Is to meet my boys”). Throughout the song, the pitch of Tesfaye’s voice is shifted up and down to the point that it is difficult to tell what parts are his real voice and what parts are edited. Most of it is not his voice. He is not himself. It is not only an initiation for her into the group, but an initiation for him into this new, dark lifestyle.

Some of the music even has an accusatory tone aimed at the fans. “Gifted” by French Montana has The Weeknd singing “I know that’s when they love me/ They love me when I’m high.” Starboy’s chorus contains “Look what you’ve done/ I’m a motherfucking starboy,” which could mean he’s looking at what he’s done or telling the audience to look at what we’ve done to him.

The Fall

Taking a look back at all that has happened seems to fill our protagonist with nothing but regret. A great deal of songs ( ) depict the drugs as a way of forgetting one’s past. Adaptation is the only song I know of that directly laments the choice to leave home and go for the fame (”I chose the life, I chose the life/ Then I realized/ That she might have been the one/ I let it go for a little fun”). Even in this song, he is trying to convince himself that it was the right choice.

Even some of the songs that depict the height of the rise show some of the heartbreak. The Hills is basically about a booty call, but the outro has some interesting implications. “Ewedihalehu/ Yene Konjo/ Ewedihalehu/ Yene fikir fikir fikir fikir” is Amharic, Abel’s first language. It translates to “I love you very much, my beauty. I love you very much, my love, my love, my love, my love.” The recorded version of the song uses feminine conjugations of the words, meaning it is a woman speaking. However, at live shows, he uses the masculine forms. I believe that this part is in Abel’s first language because it is his thoughts. Things that he feels but could never say.

“Often” has a similar idea in the beginning. The intro is a sample of a song by Turkish singer Nükhet Duru, “Ben Sana Vurgunum” (I Am in Love with You). “Seneler sürer her günüm/…Yalniz gitmekten yorgunum” translates to “Each day takes years for me. I’m tired of going alone.” This is funny considering the first line in English is “I usually love sleeping all alone.”



Conclusion

So that’s my weird headcanon for the music of my favorite artist. What do you think? Do you agree? Have I missed any big examples? Am I way off base and over-analyzing? I have never heard anyone else talking about this and I want to know what others think.