10 Pop Songs That Are Actually Incredibly Dark

There's a good chance that no other song that has come out in the past 10 years can equal what Blinding Lights has done. Even though people like to dog on it every now and again for having some possible similarities to Take on Me by a-ha, The Weeknd deserves all the accolades he got from this song, with a perfect melody and a tempo that makes you feel like you're in the driver's seat as the song's playing. Where the darkness comes in though is where it falls in the context of the album.

Over the course of After Hours, Abel is clearly hurting and going through the process of separating from his lover. Coming out of songs like Heartless, you can hear him drowning his sorrows in the excesses of Las Vegas before getting paramedics to help resuscitate him on Faith. As soon as Blinding Lights comes on though, this is no longer a cool night time drive through the city, as Abel is getting even more loaded and driving erratically through the streets, begging for something to take his pain away.

Since he talks about flying through the streets of Sin City and never being able to see clearly when she's gone, this could easily just be a metaphor for him getting loaded and driving like a maniac, only stopping once the high starts to wear off. Considering the final song on the project is called Until I Bleed Out, this isn't a song about letting yourself go in a fun way. Beyond all of those glossy keyboards, you can hear this man's cry for help.