Do You Hear What I Hear (A Cry for Help)?: A Musical Dissection Of "The Hills" By The Weeknd

Infidelity may very well be the curse of our current generation. Staying true to someone can be very difficult when the world is seemingly filled with people who just want to f*ck. But what are the true repercussions of feeding those feelings? What kind of darkness can be born from darkness itself? These are just a few of the issues The Weeknd brings up in The Hills, perhaps one of the greatest R&B songs of the last decade, real talk. But let’s not pretend we don’t know what it is. Is is an anthem to infidelity. A memoir of a man cashing in on his alpha status to keep the females in question subjegated.

But there is a GREAT irony to be found hidden DEEP in this song that kind of changes the whole meaning of it, and there’s not a single soul I have met who knows what that is.

Please, allow me to dissect The Hills and reveal to you that these fuckers do, indeed, have eyes, and those eyes see all.

Maybe even more than the Weeknd implies.

Infidelity As A Way of Life

The Hills starts with “Your man on the road he doing promo, you said keep our business on the low-low.” So right away with the opening line we have not only established the song is being sung to a female The Weeknd is cheating with, BUT he is fucking someone famous’ girlfriend or wife. Only celebrities go on the road for promotion. So right away, he is not only playing with fire but he is playing with that blue flame, which everyone should know burns at an even higher temp.

You will also notice immediately that there is an element of shame in The Weeknds treatment of these verses (whereas in the chorus, he straight embraces his cheating ways by shouting it from the mountaintops). Outside of the chorus, he sort of “whisper sings” the verses that are dialogue in this song, whereas the chorus just sweeps you up in a tidal wave of falsetto magic.
Insecure during pregame, cocky during performance. I am sure the ladies don’t complain. 
But this song goes deeper than that (sex pun intended).

Infidelity As a Curse

In the second verse of the radio edit, though, you will find an interesting admission of guilt that, while being quite confident, is also a declaration of his own sickness. “I just fucked two bitches before I saw you, so you gon’ have to do it on my tempo.” 

So not only is he cheating with another man’s woman, he is cheating with her for the third time that day and he is TELLING her about the other he already cheated with, letting her know she means the least to him. Sorry, but the woman that gets it third is the woman who gets the bronze, it’s basic olympic deduction.

But this could also be seen as a subliminal cry for help. 

Think about it, having sex with three women in one day and in this song he admits that the one he is singing to he only talks to and sees after 5:30 at night, meaning dude’s full time job is fucking. Seriously. Between seduction time and actual boning time, there would be no time left in his day, unless dude gets up at 4:30 a.m to start his daily bang-a-thons, all dude does is fuck, which, if you have ever fucked that much, truly takes the fun out of fucking.

He may not be bragging, after all.

A Cry For Help From An Addict-Addict

The other interesting side fact about this song is he always points out that he is realest when he is “fucked up” and on drugs. That’s the real me, he claims. 

So what you have here is a man who is clearly addicted to sex and drugs, and what may at first seem like a shout out to them ends up being a man on the verge of self destruction (something reflected PERFECTLY in the amazing video) who may be reaching out to his side chick to save his empty and vacuous life.

What is even more interesting is, he claims she will be his third fuck for the day, therefore his third choice out of many, but if that is the case and she is SUCH a jump-off to him….

Why Is Did He Write Her A Song Unless He Actually Loves Her

“You’re so vain you probably think this song is about you.” Well, it is because you keep saying ME specifically. If the song was called ‘Sam’s So Vain’, I probably wouldn’t think the song is about me. 

For those missing the reference, it is an old Carly Simon song, where she sings about a man who is so vain he thinks said song is about him, but the relentless irony is that IT WAS about him, as it says so right in the hook.

This brings us to the side point in the Hills that I think most miss out on. He has to adore the girl he is singing to (third pick my ass, you were lying so she wouldn’t know you were waiting around  for 5:30, dawg) or he wouldn’t be so up front about his flaws. He is telling her (whoever SHE is) that he does care, he is overcompensating with the song, acting like she aint shit, but would YOU write a sick, twisted, aurally pleasing song to your bronze pick?

I wouldn’t either.

C-Major AGAIN

Not sure if you are following this column or not, but if you are, yes, this is the third song in a row chosen for dissection by me that is based around C-major. This has happened enough now (unintentionally, by the way) that I am beginning to look into how often C-major turns up in number one songs across the years.

There is an undeniable earworm quality to C-major, but there may be even more to it than just that, more to come soon.

In Closing….

The Hills is a great song that makes you think it is about the glory of fucking without feelings, but once you realize he penned and composed a whole song to his third pick, you realize this is just a lovelorn man who, while pretending to be singing to a side chick, IS THE SIDE CHICK HIMSELF!

Boom, I just blew my own mind. That’s like a writer’s version of suicide.