The GRAMMY winner dropped a new six-track EP on Thursday that had fans speculating about the songs' connections to his high-profile break-up.
New music from The Weeknd is out just in time for the weekend -- and it's got the fan-based rumor mill running overtime, searching for connections between his new songs and his break-up with Selena Gomez.
After subtly teasing the release of new music via a billboard in London on Thursday, the 28-year-old Canadian GRAMMY winner dropped a six-song EP titled My Dear Melancholy on Thursday night.
The Weeknd's new music comes just months after his high-profile split from the "Bad Liar" singer -- the two dated for 10 months and broke up in October. Naturally, several fans took to social media after the songs came out to point out how many of lyrics sound like they could be related to their failed relationship.
The EP's first track, "Call Out My Name," certainly contains the most fodder for Selena detectives. It begins with these telling lyrics: "We found each other/ I helped you out of a broken place/ You gave me comfort/ But falling for you was my mistake."
Things seem to get even more personal with these lines: "I put you on top, I put you on top / I claimed you so proud and openly / And when times were rough, when times were rough / I made sure I held you close to me." These lines could possibly reference both how open they were with making public appearances together as well as how The Weeknd canceled shows to be by Selena's side during her health struggles.
And then there is the one big line that many are interpreting as a direct reference to Selena's kidney transplant, which occurred a few months before the couple broke up. "I almost cut a piece of myself for your life/ Guess I was just another pitstop/ Til' you made up your mind/ You just wasted my time."
It's also been suggested that some lyrics could be calling out Selena for rekindling her relationship with Justin Bieber soon after she and The Weeknd called it quits.
In "Hurt You," he sings, "When you're with him, you close your eyes and think of me/ Just call me up again / I'll make you weak."
From there, the rest of the EP is a journey as the singer tries to make peace with the end of a relationship and get closure. One way to do that? Diss your ex.
In "Wasted Times," he seems to take a dig at Selena by comparing her his ex, Bella Hadid. "Wasted times I spent with someone else / She wasn't even half of you / Reminiscin' how you felt," he sings, adding later, "You were equestrian, so ride it like a champion." Bella was a competitive horseback rider before her experience with Lyme disease killed her Olympic dreams.
In the closing track, "Privilege," the lyrics take a turn where the R&B crooner totally writes off the cause of his heartbreak with these lyrics: "Enjoy your privileged life/ 'Cause I'm not gonna hold you through the night / We said our last goodbyes / So let's just try to end it with a smile / And I don't wanna hear that you're suffering."
As for how he's coping at the end of all this, The Weeknd sings that he'll be back to his old ways: "And I'ma f**k the pain away, and I know I'll be okay / They said our love is just a game, I don't care what they say / But I'ma drink the pain away, I'll be back to my old ways / And I got two red pills to take the blues away."
Of course, despite all the rumors and conjecture, any connection between The Weeknd's new music and his break-up with Gomez remains unconfirmed.
The release comes after the "False Alarm" singer spent the last several weeks posting vague, cryptic and unsettling Instagram posts, hinting that he was in the studio recording new music.
For more on The Weeknd's split from Gomez, and her subsequent romance with Bieber, check out the video below.
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