The Weeknd, Madonna and Playboi Carti have released ‘Popular’ from ‘The Idol’.
Megastar The Weeknd – real name Abel Tesfaye – sings from the perspective of his cult leader character Tedros on the song from the soundtrack to the upcoming HBO drama series, which premieres on June 4.
Speaking about Lily-Rose Depp’s pop star character Jocelyn, he sings: “Begging on her knees to be popular.
“That’s her dream to be popular.
“Kill anyone to be popular.
“Sell her soul to be popular…”
The Weeknd has teased that fans will hear more of The Queen of Pop on the show.
He told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 of the song: “I’m proud of it. I’m definitely proud of it. Me and Carti had this … I mean, we’ve jammed out before. We’ve had a different version of this song prior. So I’ve had these vocals for a while and I’ve kind of just worked around it, and then kind of kept it in the tuck. But now it felt like it was time. It was time. And it felt right and it felt cohesive with this album that I’m working on right now. Or that I just actually finished. The Idol soundtrack, yeah. And so I’ve been producing the song for a while. And then Madonna, Madge. She’s the ultimate co-sign for this song, for this album, and for this TV show. And you’ll hear more of her in the show as well too. She is the ultimate pop star.”
The plot for the X-rated series reads: “After a nervous breakdown derailed Jocelyn’s last tour, she’s determined to claim her rightful status as the greatest and sexiest pop star in America. Her passions are reignited by Tedros, a nightclub impresario with a sordid past. Will her romantic awakening take her to glorious new heights or the deepest, darkest, depths of her soul?”
The track is the second single to be taken from the LP ‘The Idol Vol. 1’, following ‘Double Fantasy’ featuring Future.
Vol 1. is released in full on June 30.
BLACKPINK star Jennie recently teased a collaboration with her ‘The Idol’ co-star The Weeknd.
The 27-year-old K-Pop star plays Angel in the series – which is co-created by The Weeknd, ‘Euphoria’ scribe Sam Levinson and Reza Fahim – and she played a snippet of the unreleased track, seemingly from ‘The Idol’, with vocals that sound like her and the ‘Blinding Lights’ hitmaker.
The preview was played during a DJ set at the launch of Jennie’s capsule collection for Calvin Klein in South Korea earlier this month and also appeared on TikTok.