The Weeknd Taps Madonna, Playboi Carti for New Single ‘Popular’

The Weeknd has dropped a new single, “Popular,” featuring Madonna and Playboi Carti. The upbeat pop number teases his forthcoming soundtrack LP, The Idol Vol. 1, out June 30. A video for the song showcases the cast of HBO series The Idol, including Lily-Rose Depp and Abel “the Weeknd” Tesfaye, galavanting around the Cannes Film Festival, where the series premiered last month.

A snippet of “Popular” was played during Cannes and began circulating on social media. The Weeknd previously teased the song’s collaboration when he posted a screenshot of himself on FaceTime with Playboi Carti.

The single follows the soundtrack’s previous offering, “Double Fantasy,” featuring Future. Following its premiere at Cannes — where the reviews were not-so-great, and the ovation only five minutes long — HBO shared a new trailer for the series. The new clip offered up a 90-second barrage of Hollywood sleaze and toxicity as flailing pop idol Jocelyn (Depp) falls in thrall to Tedros, the skeevy, scheming Svengali played by Tesfaye. 

Back in March, Rolling Stone published an extensive report about The Idol. Interviews with 13 members of the show’s cast and crew revealed claims that the show’s on-set working conditions were often chaotic and that the series had taken a dark turn. One source described some potential scenes as “sexual torture porn,” while another said the show went from “a dark satire of fame and the fame model” to “the thing it was satirizing.”

One production member said: “It was like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show — and then the woman comes back for more because it makes her music better.” 

HBO, as well as the show’s core creative team — Tesfaye, Depp, and Levinson — have pushed back against those allegations in recent interviews, and during a Cannes press conference. “When I read the specifics, however, it just felt completely foreign to me,” Levinson said. “But I know who I am. There’s the work, and there’s the managing of the persona. And that is not interesting to me, because it takes away from the work.”

The Idol was co-created by Levinson, Tesfaye, and Reza Fahim. It stars Depp, Jennie Kim, Troye Sivan, Suzanna Son, Rachel Sennott, and Dan Levy.