The Weeknd Posts Haunting CGI ‘Unprepared Certainty’ Video in Latest Chapter 3 Roll-Out
The Weeknd is definitely up to something, but at this point it’s still not clear exactly what the big picture will be. The “Take My Breath” singer (who now goes by his birth name, Abel Tesfaye), posted yet another cryptic teaser video on Tuesday morning (August 6) as part of what has been tagged as “Chapter 3” in his musical evolution.
The three-plus minute CGI video, entitled “unprepared certainty,” arrived at midnight with no further explanation aside from the visual starring a digitally animated toddler making his way through a creepy house on the hill. “All I have is my… legacy,” Tesfaye sings at the outset over spooky keyboards bubbling alongside the computer generated sky pulsing with lightning.
As the child follows a shrouded woman into the home, a swell of dark keyboards gives the morose track a funereal feel while viewers follow the child’s progress and the track adopts a slightly lighter feel midway through. “You can change locations/ You can change your name/ They will always find a way,” Tesfaye sings in his signature falsetto over gently strummed acoustic guitars.
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At one point, the child strikes a pose with his left arm on his forehead, as if shading his eyes from a bright light, as he stares into a series of full-length mirrors that appear to show reflections of The Weeknd in a number of previous incarnations, including the signature red suit from his After Hours era. The video ends with the child sitting in the embrace of the woman, with Abel singing, “My mama told me it will never be the same/ They will always find a way.”
At press time a spokesperson for Tesfaye had not responded to Billboard‘s request seeking more information on the video.
The latest missive in the singer’s next era comes after he teased a song fans speculate is called “The Abyss,” which also featured a CGI video starring the unnamed baby and a similarly subdued track. That post was accompanied by a quote from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “when you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you…”
In another video teaser from July 18, Abel said, “There are Three Chapters in this Tale,” alongside CGI images of his red suit-wearing character driving a car alongside glimpses of some of his former incarnations.
Two years after the release of the Dawn FM album, Tesfaye is gearing up to return to the stage in September with a one-night-only concert in São Paulo, Brazil. The show is booked for Sept. 7 at Estádio MorumBIS and promises “never-before-seen production,” according to an earlier press release. The Live Nation-produced show in Brazil comes nine months after the singer performed in São Paulo for two nights (Oct. 10 & 11, 2023) during his After Hours Til Dawn Tour at Allizanz Parque, as well as Rio de Janiero’s Estádio Nilton Santos on Oct. 7.
Watch the new video (and the previous posts) below.
