The Weeknd is a trip. More specifically, Abel Tesfaye (as the singer now refers to himself, using his birth name) is on a wild voyage in the trippy new video for his electro-pop single “Open Hearts.” The singer released the video for the new single on Friday (Nov. 15), which is part of an immersive experience maximized for the Apple Vision Pro reality headset.
According to a release, the collaborative “The Weekend: Open Hearts” project with Apple was shot in the 180-degree Apple Immersive Video format and is optimized for viewing on the company’s VR headsets; fans are invited to get the full ultra-high-res video and Spatial Audio experience by booking an Apple Vision Pro demo at their local Apple store starting today, or by checking it out for free with the Apple TV app on Apple Vision Pro.
A non-Vision Pro music video directed by Anton Tammi — who also directed the video for “Dancing in the Flames,” the first single from Tesfaye’s upcoming Hurry Up Tomorrow album — is yet another journey into a dark netherworld in which the singer fights his demons and other seemingly sinister forces.
It opens with Abel strapped to a gurney in the back of an ambulance looking shell-shocked as the tune’s bubbling synth pop groove chugs behind him and he sings, “I can hear the wind blow, even through the window/ I can hear the whisper, even with my ears closed.” As the EMS crew work to revive the singer, taking off his sunglasses and checking his pupils, Abel croons the falsetto chorus, “Where do I start?/ When I open my heart?/ It’s never easy falling in love again/ Cover my scars/ When I open my arms/ It’s never easy falling in love again.”
Because nothing is ever what it seems in Abel World, the next time we see the ambulance crew they are dressed in black and have glowing orange eyes, hinting at something sinister afoot. The trip down a desert highway includes an escort from wild horses to the streets of Los Angeles, where the singer wakes up and finds himself seemingly floating above the city.
After a mysterious figure appears in the window, Abel opens the door to the passenger cabin, which transports him to a room full of glowing eye creatures as the song devolves into a spooky psychedelic wash and he confronts a hooded, eyes blazing cult-like leader who is, of course, him.
The Weeknd’s upcoming sixth studio album will be accompanied by a feature film-length psychological thriller of the same name directed by Trey Edward Shults (It Comes At Night), which will mark the singer’s feature-starring debut; Jenny Ortega and Barry Keoghan will also star in the film that will be distributed by Lionsgate.
While the official music video manifests as a series of blurry, vertical shots showing the action in a peephole-style view devoid of the enveloping headset experience, the teaser for the Vision Pro version hints at a much more intense journey.
Watch the “Open Hearts” video below.
