The Weeknd’s Rebirth in Starboy

By: Alexis Carreno

The famous Canadian artist Abel Makkonen Testaye, better known as The Weeknd released his “Starboy” music video this past September. The song was already an appealing song but the video allows us to further understand the meaning behind the lyrics.

The video initiates with The Weeknd getting suffocated by a masked man. After killing him, the masked man takes off the mask only to reveal it is The Weeknd again except his appearance has changed; he no longer has his strange haircut from before. This scene expresses the main theme of the music video and song which is a transformation or change, but what exactly does this mean?

Growing up in the lower social economic class of society, The Weeknd never had it easy. As Wendy Mead explains in her article, he dropped out of high school to pursue his interest in music. After a couple of the years he started to release his first albums such as Trilogy and Kiss Land, and started to get a fan base. However, what many don’t know is that he always tried to hide himself from the public and interviews because he was insecure about how he looked.

With that being said, we start understanding the meaning behind the video and the change that is occurring in his life. As he enters his McLaren P1, we see that he lets a black cat into the passenger seat. Then after he takes off, there is a black panther sitting where the cat should be. These two animals symbolize his pass and present. The black cat is a symbol of bad luck, which demonstrate the rough times he had to go through to get to where he is now. By replacing the cat with a panther, a symbol of death and rebirth, he signifies that he was able to overcome all the negativity in his life and mature as a person.

To further support this idea of rebirth, he enters the closet full of The Weeknd’s old clothes and throws a lighter to burn it all.  Why would he do this? The closet symbolizes a place where people get ready and change into an outfit that reflect who they are therefore, by making that the center origin of the fire, he is telling us that his old identity has disintegrated.   

Aside from his personality change, another change that can be seen is his position in the music industry. He wields a cross and uses it to destroy his most successful record up to this point, Beauty Behind the Madness, along with the awards he received. It was this album that made him very popular and wealthy because like Andrew Ryce stated in his article, it played like a victory lap with The Weeknd revisiting past glories and embellishing them. So, if it was successful why would he destroy it? It’s because of these revisits and continuation to use the same themes as his previous album that he wanted to get rid of it. He wanted to change himself but as the same time change his music style as well. In Christianity, the cross is symbol of conquering death and resurrection therefore, by using a weapon in the shape of a cross, The Weeknd was giving the message that his previous album and awards are in the past now and it is time for a new start, in other words a resurrection.

Although he is expressing a rebirth, he cannot start from scratch because he has generated all this fame and fans that cannot be erased so easily. Which means he is entering this new chapter as the title of the music video, a “start boy” a word used to describe a person who has a lot of wealth, possession and girls which is a good description of him. He makes his wealth clear when he enters his garage and passes through his three very expensive cars: Lamborghini, Bentley, and McLaren P1. More noticeable he establishes his image as a “star boy” with his lyrics saying:

"P1 cleaner than your church shoes,

 milli point 2 just to hurt you,

all red lamb just to tease you,

none of these toys on lease too,

 made your whole year in a week too".

Not only does he brag about what he has now but he also reassures nobody is close to his level. Then the chorus further supports this claim saying “Look what you done, I’m a mothef****** star boy!”. This title and fame was thanks to his audience and fans and as he drives into the darkness with his McLaren, a representation of his wealth, we see that he is not done yet. Instead he is ready for the next chapter in his career but this time entering as a Star boy!