The Weeknd is entering a new, post-heartbreak musical era. His 2018 EP, My Dear Melancholy, was all about love and devastation — and more specifically, the loss of his exes Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez. But in his new song “Heartless,” released Tuesday night, The Weeknd takes a more pragmatic approach to being single.
“I’m back to my ways ’cause I’m heartless,” he sings on the upbeat R&B track. “All this money and this pain got me heartless… / Tryna be a better man but I’m heartless / Never be a weddin’ plan for the heartless.”
The Weeknd stays quiet about his relationships in interviews, but fans can always count on hearing the truth about how he is feeling through his preferred medium — the music. He dated Hadid for about a year and a half before a 10-month relationship with Gomez in 2017. His painful split from Gomez inspired My Dear Melancholy’s “Call Out My Name,” and many speculated that “Wasted Times,” off of the same EP, was about how he still missed Hadid, too. (There were just a few too many equestrian references.)
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Since My Dear Melancholy’s release, The Weeknd and Hadid got back together — but the reunion was only temporary. He appears to reference this on “Heartless,” too, singing, “You just came back into my life / You never gave up on me / I’ll never know what you see.”
After a hiatus, The Weeknd has returned to Instagram with a bang, and teased a new album right before he dropped the single. “TONIGHT WE START A NEW BRAIN MELTING PSYCHOTIC CHAPTER,” he wrote. “LET’S GO!”
We’ll have to wait to see whether The Weeknd has penned any new songs about Gomez, or about his on-again, off-again relationship with Hadid. But something we probably shouldn’t expect from this new “brain-melting, psychotic chapter” is any kind of anthem for cuffing season.
Listen to “Heartless” below.