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Watch The Weeknd’s Stark and Stirring ‘Rolling Stone’ Video

the weeknd rolling stone abel tesfaye

The Weeknd’s Abel Tesfaye stars in and directs the video for “Rolling Stone,” a stark and stirring portrait session in black and white. The concept is simple: Tesfaye sings as the camera zooms out from close-up. Sometimes a women stands behind him, sometimes her arms are intimately circled around his neck. Sometimes flashbulbs fire. But by the clip’s end, Tesfaye is alone and the camera blurs to gray.

The official Weeknd Twitter account explained it this way: “she represents the fans who i lose when i hit the mainstream…”

“Rolling Stone” is off Thursday, one of the three Weeknd mixtapes he released last year — the mixtapes that crossed him over. Universal Republic is bundling the trio, including House of Balloons and Echoes of Silence, as Trilogy, dropping November 26. As Pitchfork points out, the artwork for the physical release seems to be from the photo shoot at the heart of the “Rolling Stone” video. You can pre-order Trilogy here.