The first video from The Weeknd‘s uptempo new album Dawn FM has arrived, bringing with it another musical mystery for fans to unravel. This time around, The Weeknd appears to be playing a new character, who is abducted by a mysterious, dancing cult and used for an eerie ritual in the woozy video for “Sacrifice.”
After being strapped to a huge circular apparatus, The Weeknd is approached by a woman cloaked in red who maybe steals his soul — it sure looks a lot like the scene with the soul-stealing dementors in Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban. We’re only shown glimpses of the effect this has on The Weeknd between strobe-lit performance sequences, but it certainly appears to have been detrimental — I can only assume this is how he got all old and wilted on the album’s off-putting cover art.
Though it’s only been out for a few hours, Dawn FM is already stirring up fans on social media who noticed that the number on the interludes is actually real, although it doesn’t lead to any Easter eggs like the number his collaborator Tyler The Creator gave out promoting Call Me If You Get Lost. Likewise, fans have been intrigued by what sounds like confirmation of those Angelina Jolie dating rumors on “Here We Go Again…”
Anyway, you can get caught up on the latest zany serial narrative from The Weeknd in the “Sacrifice” video above and stream the album here.