Because the Weeknd’s music steadily progressed from again bedrooms to enviornment phases over the course of a decade, its scope expanded even additional because of the maximalist disco of his third studio file, 2016’s Starboy. With assists from marquee digital producers like Daft Punk, Benny Blanco, Diplo, and Cashmere Cat, Starboy took the insights of 2015’s Magnificence Behind the Insanity – which featured the Weeknd’s first No.1, “I Can’t Feel My Face” – and smoothed out that file’s serrated edges, making for shiny, pointed pop. “Die For You” was considered one of seven singles off of Starboy, however its journey to the charts was a wierd one and took years to unfold.
“Die For You” was reportedly one of many final – if not the final – music to be completed for Starboy, making it an unlikely alternative for a number one single. (Many insiders suspect the one was difficult to finish, given the emotional turmoil in Tesfaye’s life on the time – extra on that in a bit.) Tesfaye’s camp pushed the music to rhythmic modern radio, earlier than declining to submit it to pop radio for unknown causes, due to this fact “Die For You” had a sluggish begin on the Billboard chart, peaking at No.43 in 2017, a yr after the Weeknd initially launched Starboy.
5 years handed, and the one ultimately discovered a new life on TikTok, the place it appeared tailored for the platform. The development of “Die For You” carefully follows an emotional buildup, verses, and hooks, all barrelling to an explosive conclusion: “Just know that I would die for you!” Tesfaye belts.
“Die For You” brims over with emotionally charged moments, whether or not it’s the pre-chorus cry of “Hate that you want me, hate that you cry” or the “Keep it real, I would kill for you!” of the bridge. These moments function consultant snapshots of the Weeknd’s signature tone – party-weary, drug-addled pleas, determined for significant connection, and keen to succeed in deep into the psyche. Naturally, these snippets grew to become good soundtracks for short-form dramas on TikTok or parodies of these conditions.
The only noticed a resurgence after the Weeknd re-released “Die For You” to mark the fifth anniversary of Starboy, together with a brand new music video that paid direct homage to E.T. and Stranger Issues. The music surged larger on the chart than it did in 2017, peaking at No. 33.
“Die For You” additionally carries the sheen of tabloid subject material, on condition that the music was recorded within the direct aftermath of Tesfaye’s non permanent breakup with Gen Z type icon Bella Hadid. “Die For You” will not be precisely the primary time Hadid has served as Tesfaye’s muse; followers suspect that songs like “After Hours” and “Here We Go… Again” comprise direct references to their off-again, on-again relationship. This side provides “Die For You” an added layer of intrigue and a dynamic that may be simply channeled by social media expression.
Above all, “Die For You” symbolizes Tesfaye’s endurance in American pop. As soon as a singer who specialised in darkish moods and subdued manufacturing, he took over the reins of his personal fame and has more and more pushed his sound into new sonic textures, combining the manufacturing prowess of Max Martin and Oneohtrix Level By no means’s Daniel Lopatin – an unlikely duo on paper – to create a brand new musical framework for his persona. It is sensible that his followers would revisit earlier eras, tracing the singer’s strategy as he rose in stature all through the early 2020s.
Boiled down, “Die For You” paints an emotional portrait that has resonated in trendy American popular culture. Whereas its renewed success feels shocking, in some methods, once you look nearer, its resurgence within the present American temper couldn’t make extra sense.
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