History YMMV / TheWeeknd

* FandomRivalry: With Music/BrunoMars, as both artists are huge fans of Music/MichaelJackson, and both show this in their music. Fans tend to fight over whether Bruno's more lighthearted, flamboyant style or Abel's darker, more somber style captures Michael's music better, or which artist has more artistic merit and talent.

* NightmareFuel:
** "Initiation". The title refers to how the narrator "initiates" his woman: [[ButLiquorIsQuicker by getting her high]] [[GratuitousRape and forcing her to have sex with all of his friends.]] The vocals also constantly shift up and down in pitch, mimicking the nameless girl's intoxicated state of mind, as well as being creepy as fuck.
** The video for "The Hills" (which cuts to black after discovering a creepy man in an attic).
** The man who appears at the end of the video for "The Hills" is the same man in "Can't Feel My Face" who sets Abel on fire. One interpretation implies that the man is the Devil himself. Going by that interpretation, this makes the fact that the man gets shot dead by Abel in the video for "Tell Your Friends" a relief.
** "Kiss Land" really does sound like something from the works of horror director Creator/JohnCarpenter, with the heavy synthesizers and the screaming woman.
** The interlude in the "In the Night" video where the song stops [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iFa5We6zqw around the 3:18 mark]]. The video itself contains references to sex trafficking.
** The music video to "Starboy" opens up with a man in a black ski mask killing The Weeknd by suffocating him to death. The man in the mask is revealed to be the new incarnation of The Weeknd, but with a new hairdo, and what does he do? [[TrashTheSet He violently trashes his house!]]
** When the "False Alarm" video isn't [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments pure, concentrated]] RatedMForManly, it's this. [[spoiler: The mortal wound he receives at the end is [[CruelAndUnusualDeath especially horrific.]]]]
** The vocal effect on the verses of "Gasoline", which makes Abel sound demonic.
-->''It's 5 AM, I'm a nihilist''
-->''[[CessationOfExistence I know therе's nothing after this]]''
** The final minute or so of the "Out of Time" video reveals the smooth and pleasant romantic rendezvous is [[spoiler: the possible DyingDream of a much-older Abel, who comes to on an operating table as the honey-voiced DJ assures "Soon you'll be healed, forgiven, and refreshed, free from all trauma, pain, guilt, and shame/You may even forget your own name". The scene switches to Abel's P.O.V. as the surgeon -- the DJ himself -- places a blank full-face mask on Abel as his monologue concludes, ending the video on a {{Cliffhanger}}]]. Vulture even used the phrase "[[spoiler: Jim Carrey]] Is Nightmare Fuel" in [[https://www.vulture.com/2022/04/jim-carrey-the-weeknd-out-of-time-video-hoyeon-jung.html its description of the clip]].
** [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios's]] Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights expanded upon Abel's habit for this in 2022, collaborating with him to adapt his music videos into a haunted house attraction. Within ''The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare'', visitors experienced "In Your Eyes" as Abel's slasher persona chases his victim, encountered the women from "Too Late" as they dismembered victims to turn into the "perfect man", braved the trappings of Las Vegas with a mirror sequence (and the bandaged man himself) recreating his Super Bowl "Blinding Light" performance, and a macabre twist on "Heartless" as a monstrous half-toad Weeknd chased them through the subways of the original "After Hours" video, among many other grisly scares.

* TearJerker:
** "In The Night" tells the story of a girl whom the narrator is in love with, but she is incapable of loving him back because of a male abuser in her past.
** [[TheMasochismTango "Wicked Games".]] As smooth and sleazy, if cold and heavy, as the atmosphere of the song is, the lyrics of the pre-chorus and chorus are surprisingly openly vulnerable, plaintively admitting that the relationship described is one which the narrator pursues to compensate for cynicism and lack of self-confidence, taking any validation and sense of power he gets from it despite his certainty that there's no love behind it.
** "Adaptation" and "Tears in the Rain", both being songs about the narrator realizing he let the love of his life get away from him, and trying to carry on despite how empty this makes him feel.
** He may be the leader of a gang of bank robbers, but it's hard not to feel sorry for Abel at the end of the "False Alarm" video, where [[spoiler:he's injured, alone, left for dead and eventually shoots himself in the head.]]
** The sincere apologetic tone of "After Hours" can be this for anyone who's ever wanted to take back the relationship-ending mistakes that destroyed something precious and special.
--->Baby, where are you now when I need you most?\\
I'd give it all just to hold you close\\
Sorry that I broke your heart\\
Baby, I'll treat you better than I did before\\
I'll hold you down and I won't let you go\\
This time I won't break your heart
** Some of the lyrics of “Blinding Lights”, particularly how Sin City became quiet and empty, hit home for a lot of people once the world’s balance was upset by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many who obeyed stay at home orders were left to pine for nights driving out and about and for better times before the pandemic upended their lives.
** [[https://youtu.be/wgHXDbp62d8 This version]] of "Starboy" strips away the beats in order to bring the song's melancholic themes to the forefront.
** "Phantom Regret by Jim", the spoken word coda for ''Dawn FM''. Jim Carrey recites poetry about letting go of life as Abel wails in the background and the synths swell to a crescendo.
---> ''Consider the flowers, they don't try to look right''
---> ''They just open their petals and turn to the light''
** “Out of Time” continues the theme of mourning love that could’ve been saved, as the singer sadly laments that they’re out of time with their beloved, and are forced to come to terms with the fact they’ve moved on to another man. The singer briefly notes that if the new relationship doesn’t work out, they’re welcome to come back, but the song is so bleak that it’s clear it’s not going to happen even if it doesn’t work out. The music video implying the romantic night seen is a dying memory of an aged Abel is also sobering for those who fear never moving on from whatever love they lost.

* WildMassGuessing: One Reddit user [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/3irrqf/the_theory_of_why_all_of_the_weeknds_music_videos/ believes]] that all his music videos since "Rolling Stone" are a depiction of a man descending into darkness and making a DealWithTheDevil.

* AwardSnub: Most everyone with even a passing interest in him come TheNewTwenties, from fans to pop music nerds to outsiders, was shocked when the 2021 Grammy nominations were announced and Abel was completely shut out, even though 2020 was a major year for him, with ''After Hours'' becoming a huge critical and commercial success and "Blinding Lights" becoming arguably the single biggest song of the year. Because of this, [[https://genius.com/a/the-weeknd-says-he-will-no-longer-allow-his-label-to-submit-his-music-for-grammys-consideration?utm_source=twitter he has completely excluded his future label releases from being submitted for Grammy consideration entirely]].

** [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios's]] Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights expanded upon Abel's habit for this in 2022, collaborating with him to adapt his music videos into a full-length haunted house attraction. Within ''The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare'', visitors experience "In Your Eyes" as Abel's slasher persona chases his victim, encounter the women from "Too Late" as they dismember victims to turn into the "perfect man", the trappings of Las Vegas with a mirror sequence (and the bandaged man himself) recreating his Super Bowl performance, and escaping a mutating toad!Abel through the subways of the original "After Hours" video, among many other grisly scares.

* UnfortunateImplications: "Lost in the Fire" [[https://www.nme.com/blogs/weeknds-new-lost-fire-collab-gesaffelstein-needs-grow-2429862 has been]] [[https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/01/15/the-weeknd-straight-lost-in-the-fire/ accused]] of perpetuating the myth that lesbianism is "just a phase" and that [[CureYourGays sex with the right man will turn gay women straight]], as well as fetishizing bisexual women. Supposedly, the song is specifically about The Weeknd's tumultuous relationship with Bella Hadid, and not meant to be a statement about lesbians in general, but this doesn't do much to make the lyrics less uncomfortable for queer women who are harassed with similar comments. Other people wonder what all the fuss is even about considering that a great deal of his music already contains very misogynistic content.

* FandomRivalry: With Music/BrunoMars, as both artists are huge fans of Music/MichaelJackson, and both show this in their music. Fans tend to fight over whether Bruno's more lighthearted, flamboyant style or Abel's darker, more somber style captures Michael's music better, or whether which artist has more artistic merit and talent.

* UncannyValley: His face in the "Save Your Tears" music video is quite unsettling, with bloated facial features and scarring on the sides implying he had several bad botox/plastic surgery procedures.

** [[TheMasochismTango "Wicked Games."]]

* MisaimedFandom: As with most music that features copious drug abuse and an UnreliableNarrator, there's a certain subset of the fandom that takes the whole thing at face value. Abel himself lampshades this trope in "Reminder", talking about how he was nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for "Can't Feel My Face".

** The final minute or so of the "Out of Time" video reveals the smooth and pleasant romantic rendezvous is the possible DyingDream of a much-older Abel, who comes to on an operating table as [[Creator/JimCarrey the honey-voiced DJ]] assures "Soon you'll be healed, forgiven, and refreshed, free from all trauma, pain, guilt, and shame/You may even forget your own name". The scene switches to Abel's P.O.V. as the surgeon -- the DJ himself -- places a blank full-face mask on Abel as his monologue concludes, ending the video on a {{Cliffhanger}}. Vulture straight-up used the phrase "Jim Carrey Is Nightmare Fuel" in [[https://www.vulture.com/2022/04/jim-carrey-the-weeknd-out-of-time-video-hoyeon-jung.html its description of the clip]].

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Not that there was really any doubt before, but Jim Carrey's performance as the DJ on ''Dawn FM'' was met with immediate acclaim, with his spoken word coda "Phantom Regret by Jim" being considered one of the best parts of the album.

** The final minute or so of the "Out of Time" video reveals the smooth and pleasant romantic rendezvous is the possible DyingDream of a much-older Abel, who comes to on an operating table as [[Creator/JimCarrey the honey-voiced DJ]] assures "Soon you'll be healed, forgiven, and refreshed, free from all trauma, pain, guilt, and shame/You may even forget your own name". The scene switches to Abel's P.O.V. as the surgeon -- the DJ himself -- places a blank full-face mask on Abel as his monologue concludes, ending the video on a {{Cliffhanger}}. Vulture straight-up used the phrase "Jim Carrey Is Nightmare Fuel" in its description of the clip.

** His [[CosmeticHorror face]] in the "Save Your Tears" music video caused fans to compare him to [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Handsome Squidward]], [[Film/TheMask The Mask]], and [[Film/Joker2019 The Joker]].

--> ''Consider the flowers, they don't try to look right''
--> ''They just open their petals and turn to the light''

* UnfortunateImplications: "Lost in the Fire" [[https://www.nme.com/blogs/weeknds-new-lost-fire-collab-gesaffelstein-needs-grow-2429862 has been]] [[https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/01/15/the-weeknd-straight-lost-in-the-fire/ accused]] of perpetuating the myth that lesbianism is "just a phase" and that [[CureYourGays sex with the right man will turn gay women straight]], as well as fetishizing bisexual women. Supposedly, the song is specifically about The Weeknd's tumultuous relationship with Bella Hadid, and not meant to be a statement about lesbians in general, but this doesn't do much to make the lyrics less uncomfortable for queer women who are harassed with similar comments.

* HeReallyCanAct: Not that there was really any doubt before, but Jim Carrey's performance as the DJ on ''Dawn FM'' was met with immediate acclaim, with his spoken word coda "Phantom Regret by Jim" being considered one of the best parts of the album.

** "Phantom Regret by Jim", the spoken word coda for ''Dawn FM''. Jim Carrey performing spoken word about passing onto the afterlife as Abel wails in the background and the synths swell to a crescendo.

* FandomEnragingMisconception: It's The Weeknd, not "The Weekend"! And he's a singer, not a band!

* SignatureSong: For some time, it was "Can't Feel My Face" (with "Earned It" and "The Hills" not far behind), but "Blinding Lights" has likely usurped it, given it has the distinction of being seen by many as the SignatureSong of 2020 itself, as it was the biggest hit song released before the COVID-19 pandemic and remained near the top of the charts for the remainder of the year, even after other hit songs would see release.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: "Earned It"'s runaway success on radio was completely unexpected, as it was rather unlike anything heard on pop radio. Additionally, the song was on the ''Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' soundtrack and looked like it would be dubiously overshadowed by the cleaner and more radio-friendly "Love Me Like You Do" by the much more established Music/EllieGoulding. The song wound up getting an Oscar nomination over "Love Me Like You Do".
* AwardSnub: Fans and pop music nerds alike were shocked when the 2021 Grammy nominations were announced and Abel was completely shut out, even though 2020 was a major year for him, with ''After Hours'' becoming a huge critical and commercial success and "Blinding Lights" becoming one of the biggest songs of the year. Because of this, [[https://genius.com/a/the-weeknd-says-he-will-no-longer-allow-his-label-to-submit-his-music-for-grammys-consideration?utm_source=twitter he has completely excluded his future label releases from being submitted for Grammy consideration entirely]].

*** As a show of just how long-lasting Blinding Lights is, as of August 16th 2021 it has broken the record for longest amount of time spent in the Top 100 at ''88 weeks''!

* HarsherInHindsight: His song "Blinding Lights" features the line "I look around and Sin City's cold and empty". Just four months later, Las Vegas, along with the rest of Nevada, would be locked down due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic.

* FirstInstallmentWins: ''House of Balloons'' gets the most critical acclaim of everything he's released. There are a few factors: the songwriting is regarded as superior ("High For This" and "Wicked Games" still get the biggest reception at gigs), the confidence of the atmosphere and general aesthetic, its role in establishing [[https://twitter.com/marathonpacks/status/50357404524752896 PBR&B]] as a genre along with [[Music/{{OFWGKTA}} Frank Ocean]], plus the deliberate mystery cultivated around it - when it first came out, people assumed The Weeknd was a band or even Drake producer Noah "40" Shebib.
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: On a [[https://youtu.be/SsRXJnzas2s live performance for Vevo]], when The Weeknd performed "Starboy", at first, he did the clean version of the song ("Main main out of your league too, ah" instead of "Main bitch out of your league too, ah"), but after he gave the mic to the crowd, who sang the normal version ("Side bitch out of your league too, ah"), he decided to roll with it.
* JustHereForGodzilla: Quite a few Music/DaftPunk fans only ended up listening to Starboy because of the eponymous duo's contributions to both the title song and the album's closer "I Feel It Coming". Considering that it would be the last two songs they would ever publicly release before breaking up in 2021, it's not entirely unjustified.

* HilariousInHindsight: His cameo on ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' features him revealing that he is a virgin and uses his virgin powers to win Grammys. Fans jokingly attribute his AwardSnub mentioned above to him losing his virginity in a recording studio while recording "Escape from L.A.", where he sings "we had sex in the studio..."

** "Initiation". The title refers to how the narrator gets his woman: [[ButLiquorIsQuicker by getting her high]] [[GratuitousRape and forcing her to have sex with all of his friends.]] The vocals also constantly shift up and down in pitch, mimicking the nameless girl's intoxicated state of mind, as well as being creepy as fuck.

** The man who appears at the end of the video for "The Hills" is the same man in "Can't Feel My Face" who sets Abel on fire. One interpretation implies that the man is the devil himself. Going by that interpretation, this makes the fact that the man gets shot dead by Abel in the video for "Tell Your Friends" a relief.

** The interlude in the "In The Night" video where the song stops [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iFa5We6zqw around the 3:18 mark]]. The video itself contains references to sex trafficking.

* OneSceneWonder: The mysterious appearance of [[spoiler: Music/DaftPunk]] in TheStinger of the video for "I Feel It Coming" is one of the most talked-about things of said video, with many demanding to know [[MindScrew what it means from them.]]
* SignatureSong: "Can't Feel My Face", although "Earned It" and "The Hills" are not far behind. "Blinding Lights" has the distinction of being seen by many as the SignatureSong of 2020 itself given it was the biggest hit song released before the COVID-19 pandemic and remained near the top of the charts for the remainder of the year, even after other hit songs would see release.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Some have accused "Secrets" off of ''Starboy'' as being a ripoff of "Talking in Your Sleep" by The Romantics. It doesn't help that he uses the same lyrics in the chorus as the original does.
** "Blinding Lights" is basically Rod Stewart's "Young Turks" with the drum track from A-Ha's "Take On Me".

* TearJerker: "In The Night" tells the story of a girl whom the narrator is in love with, but she is incapable of loving him back because of a male abuser in her past.

** He may be the leader of a gang of bank robbers but it's hard not to feel sorry for Abel at the end of the False Alarm video when he's injured, alone, left for dead and eventually shoots himself in the head.

-->Baby, where are you now when I need you most?\\

* AwardSnub: Fans and pop music nerds alike were shocked when the 2021 Grammy nominations were announced and Abel was completely shut out, even though 2020 was a major year for him with ''After Hours'' and "Blinding Lights" from the album becoming huge critical and commercial successes. Because of this, [[https://genius.com/a/the-weeknd-says-he-will-no-longer-allow-his-label-to-submit-his-music-for-grammys-consideration?utm_source=twitter he has completely excluded his future label releases from being submitted for Grammy consideration entirely]]. This was amplified somewhat when the eventual winner of Record of the Year, the Grammys' biggest award, was Music/BillieEilish. As [[https://twitter.com/ShadowTodd/status/1371326767722459143 this tweet]] by WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows points out, the Grammys didn't nominate the Weeknd for ''anything'' yet gave their biggest award to the one artist of the time who neither needs it nor even actually wants it.

* HilariousInHindsight: His cameo on WesternAnimation/AmericanDad features him revealing that he is a virgin and uses his virgin powers to win Grammys. Fans jokingly attribute his AwardSnub mentioned above to him losing his virginity in a recording studio while recording "Escape from L.A.", where he sings "we had sex in the studio..."

* HilariousInHindsight: His cameo on WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy features him revealing that he is a virgin and uses his virgin powers to win Grammys. Fans jokingly attribute his AwardSnub mentioned above to him losing his virginity in a recording studio while recording "Escape from L.A.", where he sings "we had sex in the studio..."

** The man who appears at the end of the video for "The Hills" is the same man in "Can't Feel My Face" who sets Abel on fire. One interpretation implies that the man is the devil himself.