The Weeknd is about a week and change into the rollout of his surprise album My Dear Melancholy,, and while we have cinematic music videos yet to accompany the moody music, Abel Tesfaye has released a six-minute visual guide of sorts to the album called He Was Never There. Directed by fellow Torontonian Joachim Johnson, it’s not a visual album like Mania but instead is an experimental short documentary that goes behind the scenes of making My Dear Melancholy,.
While there are plenty of shots of Tesfaye recording vocals and listening back to tracks, there’s not a coherent narrative or any explicit insight into said process. Instead, think of the film as a mood board, capturing the horror-movie VHS dread that inspires Tesfaye’s general sonic outlook. It’s brief and inventively shot, and you can watch it above.
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