The Weeknd Bares Broken Heart on New Album Post-Selena Gomez Split — But Does He Want Bella Back?
The Weeknd is baring his soul in his latest album, My Dear Melancholy, which dropped (to every fan’s delight) on Friday.
But while it answered fans demands for new material, the six-track album raised many questions about who The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, was singing about.
Notable tracks include “Call Out My Name,” which brings to mind his ex Selena Gomez with lyrics like “We found each other/I helped you out of a broken place/You gave me comfort/But falling for you was my mistake.”
In the same song, The Weeknd, 28, had many fans questioning whether he considered giving Gomez, 25, a kidney when she needed a transplant last year.
“I said I didn’t feel nothing baby, but I lied/I almost cut a piece of myself for your life/Guess I was just another pit stop/Til’ you made up your mind/You just wasted my time/You’re on top,” he sang.
The Weeknd was really about to give Selena Gomez his kidney omg lawd pic.twitter.com/EX8K0oMJsM
— SKINNY LEGEND?? (@skinnylegendz)
March 30, 2018
He seemingly sings about Gomez again in “Privilege,” singing “Enjoyed your privileged life/‘Cause I’m not gonna hold you through the night/We said our last goodbyes/So let’s just try to end it with a smile/And I don’t want to hear that you are suffering/You are suffering no more/‘Cause I held you down when you were suffering/You were suffering.”
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In “Wasted Times,” he brings up imagery of a girl who was an “equestrian” — likely a reference to ex Bella Hadid who was forced to give up on her dreams of competing in the 2016 Olympics in the equestrian shows due to her Lyme disease.
Fans took to Twitter to react to The Weeknd’s new album, many of them remarking on the similarities between this album and his compilation Trilogy.
On Thursday, the “Starboy” singer announced on he was releasing a new project called My Dear Melancholy sooner rather than later.
While the musician neglected to include any further details about the release, he did share what appears to be the album artwork — a close-up shot of his face — which he simply captioned, “tonight.”
The Weeknd bringing back the trilogy vibes ????
— Brian ???? (@_BrianMartinez1)
March 30, 2018
Me after the first song of the weeknd's new album pic.twitter.com/vPLhdiUhIr
— LiteBrite Shyamalan (@rellis_09)
March 30, 2018
The Weeknd never disappoints.
— Abraham Salgado (@AbrahamSalgado5)
March 30, 2018
The Weeknd’s new album is the best one yet ???? I’m in loveeeee
— Nayomi Alvarez ???? (@nayomithesavage)
March 30, 2018
Throughout the week, the singer was also teasing the release of the project, posting a series of videos captioned “mastering,” and sharing a screenshot of a text message with creative director, La Mar Taylor on Wednesday asking, “should we drop Friday? I’m indifferent to be honest.”
While The Weeknd was featured on a track from the Black Panthersoundtrack, My Dear Melancholy is his first solo musical project since his split with Selena Gomez in October 2017, after dating for 10 months.
The singer and model Hadid split in November 2016 after dating for just under two years.