Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd writes songs about the lonliness and alienation that fame can result in, especially when someone spends most of their time womanizing and taking drugs, and Tesfaye seems to be a huge fan of both. What makes Tesfaye's lyrics stand out, however, is his self awareness of the situation: he knows he is only exacerbating these negative feelings through his actions, he just can't seem to help himself and the self loathing this results in fills his songs.
The opulent video for "Twenty Eight" is a great representation of all this as it features shots of Tesfaye being interview mixed with shots of him lounging in a huge marble mansion filled with beautiful, topless women dancing and swimming while he ambivalently looks on, sometimes filming the action, while the ghost of a girl he actually cared about sits on his bed. It's a gorgeous and provocative video that sends The Weeknd a little further down the dark and excessive rabbit hole that he himself has created.
