The Weeknd Teases New ‘Visual Piece’ Titled ‘Mania’


Canadian superstar Abél Makonnen Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd took to Twitter Monday afternoon to tease the release of a new ‘Visual Piece’ simply titled ‘Mania‘. While the singer didn’t hint at a release date, The Weeknd’s third album Starboy is set to be launched on November 25. The tweet was accompanied by an 18 second teaser of the video which was directed by Grant Singer.

The piece appears to be in line with previous videos directed by Singer which include “Can’t Feel My Face,” “The Hills,” “Tell Your Friends” and included the panther also seen in the video for “Starboy.”

Makonnenn follows in the footsteps of Beyonce, Solange and most recently Tinashe who have accompanied new albums with the immediate release of a series of music videos.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal about the new album, The Weeknd comments on the differences between Starboy and his earlier work and the apparent departure from his signature dark RnB sound.

“I’ve never made a record like that. I’m doing things with my voice that I’ve never done before, and it kind of embodies all the inspirations of the album—the punked-out aspects of Bad Brains, the Smiths.”

“There was no real concept. We would just go with whatever vibe we were on, try songs lots of different ways. This is the most experimental we’ve ever been.”

The Weeknd performing at Sunday’s American Music Awards in Los Angeles. [Image by Kevin Winter/ Getty Images]

On Sunday The Weeknd performed new single “Starboy” at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles after winning the award for Soul R&B Album earlier in the night. The single is one of two tracks on the artists upcoming album produced by and featuring French electronic duo Daft Punk. The feature marks the first major return to the airwaves for the pair since the 2013 release of Random Access Memories. The album also includes guest appearances by Future, Lana Del Rey and Kendrick Lamar.

“Starboy” the single is holding strong at number 3 on the charts after having its number 1 spot replaced by Rae Sremmurd and Gucci Mane with their viral hit ‘Black Beatles’. This makes the second number 1 debut for The Weeknd following the one week run of “The Hills” in 2015. The second track to feature Daft Punk ‘I Feel It Coming’ was released om November 17.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal The Weeknd explains that the inspiration for Starboy the album came from the deaths of his idols David Bowie and Prince.

“I just love Bowie, I think he’s the ultimate inventor,” he says, noting that the album’s title is partly a nod to Bowie’s 1972 anthem “Starman.”

In his performance at Sunday’s AMA’s the singer relied on less gimmicks and visual effects than his memorable appearance at last year’s awards, but delivered a knockout performance that had the famous crowd out of their seats and singing along to the smash single. Emerging from a silver cocoon, the focus was all on Makonnen. While the notoriously stage-shy Daft Punk were unable to attend the event, The Weeknd’s killer vocals more than made up for it.

Shortly after the ‘Mania’ announcement, the singer was back on twitter to announce a Toronto album listening party as well as pop up shops in Toronto, Tokyo, Melbourne and Berlin to coincide with the release. If the success of the recent Kanye West ‘Saint Pablo’ pop-up shops are any indication of things to come, those looking to get their hands on exclusive Starboy merchandise better start lining up now. The pop-ups will be opening on Friday in time with the albums release and running all weekend, or presumably until stock sells out. Details can be found on The Weeknd’s Twitter.

[Featured Imaged by Kevin Winter/ Getty Images]

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