Tear Jerker / The Weeknd

• "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.
• "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 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.
• 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.

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