Talking with Variety, The Weeknd is breaking down each song off his new album, After Hours, and he specifically talks about one song in particular – a track titled ‘Faith.’

 

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Abel explains, “It’s about the darkest time of my entire life, a time when I was getting really, really tossed up and going through a lot of personal stuff.  This is around 2013-14: I got arrested in Vegas, it was a real rockstar era, which I wasn’t really proud of, and at the end of [the song] you hear sirens. That’s me in the back of the cop car, that moment.  I always wanted to make that song but I never did, and this album felt like the perfect time, because of the setting of Las Vegas, and [the character needing] a kind of escape after a heartbreak or whatever, ‘I’m gonna go to Vegas and drown all my sorrows,’ and by the time you get to the end of the album you realize it’s more of a redemption.”

 

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The Weeknd continues, “I wanted to go to Vegas and be this guy again, the ‘Heartless’ guy, the drug monster, the person who hates God and is losing his f—ing religion and hating what he looks like when he looks in the mirror so he keeps getting high, and hating to be sober because ‘I feel the most lonely when I’m coming down’ — that’s who this song is.”

 

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As Billboard writes, “This ode to losing his ways and coming to the most chilling conclusion of them all — “When I’m coming down is the most I feel alone,” heard in the song’s chorus — doubles back to his 2011 mixtape House of Balloons, specifically the track “Coming Down.” “I always want you when I’m coming down,” he drones over and over in the chorus that he dusted off and polished for “Faith,” which both explore hedonism through his heavy drug use from the past.”

 

When Variety asked The Weeknd about his own religion, he responded with a simple ‘I dunno.’  Abel says, “Faith is a misleading title, because everything is a test, and if you are religious or spiritual, you have to go through things.”  Back in February, The Weeknd celebrated his 30th birthday in Sin City and he describes this era as, “Not just a chapter but my second decade.”

 

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“I’ve always been self-destructive. I’ve never brought harm to others; my problem was always hurting myself, so at 30 I realized I’m genuinely happy, I have my family, my friends, my company, I’m making the smartest music I’ve ever made, and I feel like my career is just starting. This is the beginning of another phase — not just a chapter but my second decade,” shares Abel.

 

And check out this super cool video The Weeknd created with Variety.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-uhwGHDkz3/

 

For the full interview with Variety, click here.

Filed under: The Weeknd, Variety