There’s a scene in Joker where Arthur Fleck (portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix) dances in slow motion on a set of stairs between Shakespeare and Anderson avenues in The Bronx’s Highbridge in New York City. His choreography is creepy and off-center; it’s a man, teetering at the edge of reality, finally deciding to step over into the unknown.
There are traces of this feeling in The Weeknd‘s new video for “Blinding Lights” which features similarly unhinged dancing (and a similar red suit). The singer goes on a nighttime journey that he’ll definitely never forget.
“Blinding Lights” continues the story from the visual for “Heartless,” which involved The Weeknd being on a psychedelic prowl after licking a frog. In that video, he lost touch with the world and found himself in increasingly strange events. By the time that “Blinding Lights” has rolled around, The Weeknd’s trip has gone farther into unexplored territory.
He zooms through the streets in an expensive car, and when his lights aren’t bleeding red, he’s dancing in the middle of the street like there’s clown paint on his face. It’s a wild scene that radiates electric energy. It also makes you never want to lick an amphibian. Ever.
Tripping (frog) balls, the singer ends up at a club where he gets kicked out of it, but not before he finds himself locked into a romantic gaze with a woman who’s singing onstage. After flashing her a devilish grin, she waves her hand his way and he literally floats towards her. In the midst of everything happening, The Weeknd eventually loses sight of what’s going on and ends up dancing by the side of the road. Everything seems to have happened in his head. Hopefully, someone comes to get him out of the street before he hurts himself.
The Weeknd released “Heartless” last November. At the time, “Blinding Lights” was teased in a Mercedes Benz commercial. If he’s planning to release a new album, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to wonder if Drake would be a part of it since the rapper suggested that they were both cool again on “War.”
Check out “Blinding Lights” up above.
