The Weeknd’s latest single is almost a piece-by-piece breakdown of how and why he’s one of the ruling princes of pop. With its achingly earnest lead vocal, several sly nods to ‘80s New Wave and Brit pop (including a wholesale lifting of the hook from the Romantics’ 1983 hit “Talking in Your Sleep,”) and glimmeringly wistful production, “Secrets,” the newest single from his Starboy album, is him in distilled form. And in its own way, so is the accompanying video – basically an extended perfume ad, complete with racially ambiguous female love interest and pricey, artsy sets that add up to a lot of gleaming surfaces in the service of themselves.
Top photo courtesy Kevin Winter/Getty Images for NARAS.
