Music Twitter is in a frenzy after The Weeknd teased what appeared to be a remix of his Starboy standout “Die For You” featuring the return of a long-absent pop diva.
The Toronto singer shared a TikTok video from none other than Ariana Grande, who apparently filmed herself recording vocals for the updated track. “Wrote and recorded a verse for my friend after a 14-hour day on set,” she wrote. “This certain exception had to be made…”
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) February 21, 2023
The exception, of course, was to record outside music while working on the film adaptation of Wicked, which is currently eating up the bulk of the 29-year-old singer’s schedule. However, she beat the “not a singer anymore” allegations with a glimmering “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” rendition for her TikTok followers.
Obviously, she’ll be doing a bit of singing in Wicked as Glinda (the “good witch”), but for now, she won’t be working on new music of her own until Wicked wraps and releases.
It’s very interesting that The Weeknd is choosing to remix a now-seven-year-old song, but it shows his awareness of trends; thanks to fans on TikTok, the song broke the Billboard Hot 100’s top ten in January, and has remained there ever since. It’s symbolic of the new era of music in which decades-old songs can crack the Hot 100 for the first time thanks to sci-fi shows and TikTok trends, and The Weeknd might just be showing his peers how best to capitalize on old tracks that become new hits.
We’ll see if the actual remix drops in the near future, but for now, this teaser offers just enough of a glimpse at what it could be to get fans excited.