The Weeknd has been very top-notch with his storytelling ability during the After Hours campaign, which has visually been centered around The Weeknd’s drug-riddled character on a tear throughout the streets of Las Vegas. Now, he puts a shocking cap on the plotline with “In Your Eyes,” which is produced by Max Martin, Oscar Holter and Abel himself, who sings about relationship drama and staying with his significant other in spite of it:
“In your eyes, I see there’s something burning inside you/
Oh, inside you, in your eyes, I know it hurts to smile but you try to/
Oh, you try to, you always try to hide the pain/
You always know just what to say, I always look the other way/
I’m blind, I’m blind, In your eyes, you lie, but I don’t let it define you…”
The accompanying video is directed by Anton Tammi and sees a bloodied woman trying to escape from The Weeknd’s red-suited villain, who manages to catch her in what looks like the basement of a warehouse nightclub. In a twist of events, the damsel in distress wields an axe and literally decapitates the artist, before spending the rest of the night and subsequent morning dancing with his severed head. Absolutely riveting material.
In addition to the cinematic clip, The Weeknd also released the deluxe edition of After Hours, with saw some new remixes, a new feature from Lil Uzi Vert and a live rendition of “Scared To Live” from his appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” It’s been reported that After Hours is projected to sell more than 400,000 album equivalent units upon completion of it’s first week — this will presumably land him his latest Billboard number one album as well.
Press play on “In Your Eyes” below. For those who missed it, the deluxe edition of After Hours can be found here.