Fans have been speculating about the events that inspired The Weeknd’s surprise EP My Dear Melancholy since it dropped in March of 2018 – he even scrapped a whole upbeat album just to make it.
Many felt that some of the lyrics alluded to his high-profile breakups with exes Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez. He and Selena started dating in January 2017 – shortly after his split with Bella – but broke up in November of that year.
Selena was then briefly linked with then-on-again-off-again boyfriend Justin Bieber afterwards (they later broke up for good and Justin has since married Hailey Baldwin). The Weeknd also rekindled his romance with Bella – but the two later called it quits in August last year.
In a recent interview with Esquire, The Weeknd (real name: Abel Tesfaye) finally opened up about making the album – which, according to the magazine, just took him two and a half weeks to make from start to finish – and he describes working on it “cathartic.”
“It was just like this cathartic piece of art. And yeah, it was short, because that’s all I had to say on this situation,” he said.
He also explained why it was so short – just five songs. “The reason why it was so short is like, I think I just had nothing else to say on this… whatever…” he said.
Still, it seems being able to get it out of his system made him feel better. “Yeah, of course. I mean, that would have sucked if I didn’t,” he replied when asked if it made him feel better.
As for what made him scrap an entire album in favor of putting out My Dear Melancholy, “It’s not my first time. I’ve scrapped so many records!” he responds.
At one point, the interviewer directly asked if anyone in particular had inspired the album. His response? “No comment.”
He also denied speculations of a feud with Usher.
The Weeknd had previously told Variety that he felt like Usher copied his sound in the 2012 track “Climax.”
“I heard ‘Climax,’ that Usher song, and was like, ‘Holy f–k, that’s a Weeknd song,'” he told the outlet. “It was very flattering, and I knew I was doing something right, but I also got angry. But the older I got, I realized it’s a good thing.”
Diplo, who produced the track, has since responded that he may have taken inspiration from The Weeknd’s mixtape House of Balloons.
Meanwhile, Usher didn’t directly address the comments or the challenge, but he did share a video of himself singing “Climax” while lying down in bed, launching the #ClimaxChallenge on social media.
But The Weeknd wants to clarify that he doesn’t have any beef with Usher – things just got blown out of proportion.
“I hit him up to apologize and tell him that it was misconstrued. He’s one of the reasons why I make music. Definitely,” he said in his recent interview. “No, no, I have nothing bad to say about Usher. The sweetest, most down-to-earth guy ever.”
