The Weeknd dropped the dimly lit video for the Dawn FM track “Gasoline” on Tuesday morning (Jan. 11), providing a further glimpse of the evolving storyline for his 1980s-inspired electro pop album. The intense clip, helmed by photographer/director Matilda Finn — who also shot the Dawn album cover — finds Abel navigating his way through a sweaty, packed nightclub filled with demonic faced revelers.
The nearly five-minute visual opens with the singer driving at night on a fog-shrouded highway and crashing into a street sign as a blinking hearing aid appears to be painfully distracting him from his driving duties. As the car radio flashes the album’s title and an aged-up Abel stumbles out of the vehicle onto a street covered in ants, the action flashes to the club.
Packed with a bevy of twins from the TikTok and modeling world including Olivia and Jessica Sysack, Erin and Desiree Green and Audra and Alyssa Stilwell, the elderly version of the singer looks around confused as the track’s English-accented first verse unfolds. “It’s 5 AM my time again/ I’ve soakin’ up the moon, can’t sleep/ It’s 5 AM my time again/ I’m calling and you know it’s me/ I’m pushin’ myself further/ I’m just tryin’ to feel my heartbeat beat/ I wrap my hands around your neck,” he sings as a wet, disembodied hand reaches up through the floor to grab his ankle.
In keeping with what appears to be another album cycle with a twisty narrative backstory, old Abel finds himself face-to-face with current Weeknd, who bursts into tears as the bizarre scene around him grows to include a woman with a snake emerging from between her legs who slices open his chest with her sharp nails.
Toggling between weeping and laughing, the Weeknd tries to dance his cares away before spotting the wrinkled, gray-haired version of himself across the floor. When his AARP doppelgänger’s face transforms into a melting, horror movie rictus, the singer attacks the figure and knocks him to the ground, sending the clubgoers into a cackling frenzy as Abel repeatedly kicks himself while he’s down.
Check out the “Gasoline” video below.
soul, classic soul, motown,
