The king of collabs is back. The Weeknd has once again teamed up with longtime collaborator and friend Ariana Grande to bring fresh life to his track ‘Die for You’.
The duo have revamped the fifth single from The Weeknd’s 2017 album Starboy adding goosebump-inducing harmonies with Ariana’s angelic soprano delicately layered over Abel’s distinctive falsetto. It now sits at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and seems to be creeping its way up the charts.
Grande and Tessfaye teased the collab with the former sharing a TikTok in which she appears to be singing and cutting vocal takes after a day of filming the movie adaptation of Wicked (part one of which is set to come out late next year). “Wrote and recorded a verse for my friend after a 14-hour day on set,” Grande captioned the video, “This certain exception had to be made”. Fans can hear faint isolated vocals from the singer that feature on the track in the video.
Last year, inspired by Kenny Beats praising female producers, The Weeknd tweeted his admiration for Grande’s production skills tweeting “i’ve seen Ariana work in real time. That woman is a BEAST on pro tools”.
Though Abel was dropping fire mixtapes before he met Grande it was their collab on ‘Love Me Harder’ that lit the fuse for his career. Whilst working on the song he was introduced to Swedish producer and songwriter to the stars Max Martin for the first time. The two have since worked on some of The Weeknd’s biggest hits including ‘Can’t Feel My Face’, ‘Hardest to Love’, ‘Blinding Lights’, ‘In Your Eyes’, and ‘Save Your Tears’, as well as becoming close friends. Abel acknowledged in an interview with Variety, “Ariana was kinda my foot in the door with Max, my chance to show him ‘I can play this game,’ y’know?”.
‘Die For You’ marks Ariana and Abel’s fourth collaboration having previously worked together on ‘Save Your Tears’, ‘Love Me Harder’, and ‘Off the Table’. We’re praying that Ariana joins The Weeknd on stage during his upcoming After Hours til Dawn tour – keep your fingers crossed.
Following the resurgence the track received in 2022 due to its popularity on TikTok, it was rereleased for Contemporary Hit Radio. SZA revealed she was considering releasing a remix of the same track with her own verse on her latest album SOS. Whilst it was sadly cut from the original album it still might make the deluxe version which is rumoured to have ten bonus tracks.
In other news, if you haven’t quite got your Weeknd fix his episodic concert film The Weeknd Live at Sofi Stadium was released on HBO Max on the 25th February. The series lets fans who were unable to snag tics to see the maestro experience the first leg of his sold-out tour from their living room.
Words by: Molly Sutherland
Header Image: The Weeknd and Ariana Grande
