The Weeknd Returns To His Sinister Roots With “The Hills”: Watch The Video

Carl Williott | May 27, 2015 6:51 am

OK there’s definitely something stirring within The Weeknd‘s camp. After a false album release date started making the rounds, Abel Tesfaye suffered a bunch of leaks, including a potential future smash produced by Max Martin called “I Can’t Feel My Face.” But today (May 27), there’s finally something official, as the Canadian star has dropped the new single and video for “The Hills.”

Fans will recognize the track from his recent live sets — it’s the lurching, dark one with the movie trailer “BRAAAM” sound and a female scream introducing the chorus — and the fact that it’s getting a real release should assuage any fan fears that they’ve lost him completely to mainstream pop. “The Hills” would fit right in with his original mixtape trilogy, but his delivery in the verses is more slurred and disaffected than ever. (Choice lyric: “Drugs started feeling like it’s decaf.”)

The Grant Singer-directed visual starts with Tesfaye wriggling out of a crashed car along with two ladies who are not very pleased. Even if the rumored new album has a Max Martin-helmed hit on it, The Weeknd still seems to have plenty of that sociopathic Casanova shit left in the tank.

Check it out up top.

Last week The Weeknd tweeted about the track, calling it mood music, and this morning he tweeted out the single artwork, which you can see below:

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