After the release of the latest music video of “Save Your Tears” by The Weeknd, there came plenty of opinions of the symbolism to the overall story that the singer was telling the world. There was one enthusiast who shared a breakdown of the video and song that can only be described as a clinic of detail. Twitter page @hornyforabel released a series of Twitter threads on the song that has stirred up so many emotional reactions by fans of the megastar. Here are the tweets.
The symbolism & small meanings I’ve noted in A thread.
Immediately as the video plays, we’re met with Abel Tesfaye in this overly exaggerated plastic surgery look. As seen in his past music videos, he’s referenced plastic surgery many times. I believe the fact he has this look continued throughout this music video is to poke fun at Hollywood’s way of creating this idea facial structure. Plump lips, perfect nose, chiseled cheekbones, you get the drift. Abel had gone under “constructive” surgery and remade his entire face throughout this era.
The meaning behind this could vary on how different viewers think. Throughout this video, Abel creates a halo effect around himself. Constantly having the light shining on him and his sparkled red suit. This could refer to the fact we may treat Abel as this somewhat godly figure (please this is analytical ok don't take it seriously frfr). This halo effect is DRASTIC in the music video causing it to have such a crucial meaning in the video. Along the way of the After Hours story, we get this man who’s realizing his faults (Save Your Tears, AH) but also having a somewhat God Complex (Heartless, Repeat After Me). As fans do with their favorite artist, we put them on a pedestal. As with the halo effect Abel is creating in the MV, I feel he’s trying to alert people of how he truly is as a person. Further on in the video, we get the gun scene which ties in with his usage of the halo effect.
This part of the MV & the way he ties it all together, in the end, is absolutely incredible. As we see, he brings up a maskless woman to the stage & has her point a gun toward his head. We hear her scream and up he appears in an orange lit room. The probably most talked of the scene in the MV. This scene is phenomenal for the fact he’s dousing these people in apparent “champagne” the reason being he's cleansing these people of the hurt he has done. “Save Your Tears” could allude to the bottle & the “tears” stored in them. Abel is pouring and eventually spits out these “tears” to allow the viewers to understand how “two-faced” he may be. He’s telling these women to save their tears because he wants them back, yet goes around drenching them in “tears” & pulls a fake turn of character (toward the end
Mainly when displaying or imagining hell, we always think of the colors red and orange right? Abel may have created this room to be orange to signify the hell he’s created and is living in. He’s done all these things, manipulating the women he’s with & feels some sort of guilt (Remember the halo effect?) now, toward the ending of the video, we have Abel parading around the room, aiming the gun toward the audience and pretending to shoot. The ending of the video is what showcases Abels's intricacy as an artist. The sole fact he’s singing about wanting to be with this person again & how to not cry because it may be okay is so ironic with the imagery he’s giving us. The lyrical meaning and the imagery are juxtapositions of each other. You need to give this man credit for how amazing - this video truly fucking is. He’s displaying this character of himself as a facade. This lyrical “save your tears I want you back” with this comical joker like “kill off everyone it’s only me who matters” juxtaposition is fucking incredible.
Remember when he had the woman shoot? Now the ending of the MV is ultimately my favorite part for the way it ties everything into one. He holds the gun to his head and poof, confetti. Throughout the video, he has small symbols liter the room. The reasoning behind the glitter/confetti and supposed “killing” of himself is to distract us from the fact he is not going to change. He pretended this entire video to show compassion & empathy toward the masked people in the room yet it was all a lie. He portrays himself in this “Hell-like” scenery for the fact he’s a sinful person. Constantly misleading or portraying different from how he truly feels. This is why the Save Your Tears video is so fucking incredible. He distracts the viewers on the surface with this - Gaudy, exaggerated look so we wouldn't see that he had changed for the worse. He wanted us to see the surface level of his “perfection” to distract us from the deeper layer of his truly distraught ways. And that is why ladies and gentlemen, Abel Tesfaye is the king of the industry.
Again, he isn’t going to put a video out just for fun and meaningless. He’s truly displaying his level of talent as an artist throughout this amazing era with the vast amount of detail and symbolism he’s embedded. Take a look into this “crazy” man's mind. It’s incredible. Thanks