The Real Meaning Behind The Weeknd's 'Wicked Games'

The Weeknd's "Wicked Games" is a dark, brooding song with intense lyrics. According to Genius, the lyrics start off with The Weeknd — born Abel Tesfaye — crooning about a man who's just had a painful breakup, singing about emptying his wallet to spend more time with his companion, an exotic dancer or sex worker. The Chicago Tribune described the song as being about "a character so emotionally hollowed out that he seeks unsatisfying refuge in anonymous sex and drugs."

At the heart of the track, however, The Weeknd finally reveals what's behind this interaction: the male character is feeling so down in the dumps that he just wants to feel confident again. With some desperation in his voice, he begs the woman in the chorus, "Tell me you love me / (Only for tonight, only for the night) / Even though you don't love me."

Perhaps speaking to the song's central theme, The Weeknd told The Guardian in 2016 that he's confident in his music and described the songwriting process as an "escape," but admitted that in real life, "I mean, we're all insecure, aren't we?" Further confessing that drugs had previously been a "crutch" for him, he said of his earlier output, "When you're in a dark hole, at an earlier point in your life — you write about the mindset you're in at that moment." 

"Wicked Games" is no doubt an intense song, but it also set the stage for the success that followed in The Weeknd's impressive career.

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