“Die For You” brims over with emotionally charged moments, whether it’s the pre-chorus cry of “Hate that you want me, hate that you cry” or the “Keep it real, I would kill for you!” of the bridge. The construction of “Die For You” closely follows an emotional buildup, verses, and hooks, all barrelling to an explosive conclusion: “Just know that I would die for you!” Tesfaye belts. (Many insiders suspect the single was challenging to complete, given the emotional turmoil in Tesfaye’s life at the time – more on that in a bit.) Tesfaye’s camp pushed the song to rhythmic contemporary radio, before declining to submit it to pop radio for unknown reasons, therefore “Die For You” had a slow start on the Billboard chart, peaking at No.43 in 2017, a year after the Weeknd initially released Starboy.įive years passed, and the single eventually found a new life on TikTok, where it seemed tailor-made for the platform. “Die For You” was reportedly one of the last – if not the last – song to be finished for Starboy, making it an unlikely choice for a leading single. Shop the best of the Weeknd’s discography on vinyl and more.

“Die For You” was one of seven singles off of Starboy, but its journey to the charts was a strange one and took years to unfold. With assists from marquee electronic producers like Daft Punk, Benny Blanco, Diplo, and Cashmere Cat, Starboy took the insights of 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness – which featured the Weeknd’s first No.1, “ I Can’t Feel My Face” – and smoothed out that record’s serrated edges, making for bright, pointed pop.

As the Weeknd’s music steadily progressed from back bedrooms to arena stages over the course of a decade, its scope expanded even further thanks to the maximalist disco of his third studio record, 2016’s Starboy.

The weeknd die for you midi