On March 30th, The Weeknd released his highly anticipated project, My Dear Melancholy, which is a 6 song EP full of dark, emotional songs that are perfect to listen to on these rainy spring days.
Although his last album, Starboy, was very up-tempo and seemingly inspired by sounds similar to Michael Jackson, this latest release returns to the dark, haunting style which first made him popular, found on his set of 2012 mixtapes collectively titled Trilogy.
While The Weeknd’s lyrics often reflect a sort of emotional numbness when it comes to discussing women and relationships he’s had in the past, he completely pours his heart out on this EP in a display of very honest heartbreak, which many people have speculated was heavily inspired by Selena Gomez and Bella Hadid. On the intro song, “Call Out My Name”, The Weeknd references how much Selena hurt him, especially after getting back with Justin Bieber immediately after her and The Weeknd broke up (“Guess I was just another pit stop / Until you made up your mind / You just wasted my time”). He even hints at the fact that he almost donated a kidney to Selena, who suffers from lupus, when he said, “I almost cut a piece of myself for your life”. He then goes back to talking about Bella on his song “Wasted Times” where he sings, “Wasted times I spent with someone else / She wasn’t even half of you”, essentially saying that he wasted his time with Selena, when he should’ve been with Bella instead.
Overall, this project is a mix of beautiful and heavy sounds that also have subtle techno influences (thanks to the help of French techno artist/DJ, Gesaffelstein). If you loved The Weeknd’s older sounds, or if you’re just in the mood for some classic heartbreak music to vibe to, you’ll definitely love this EP!