As 2025 unfolds, Hurry Up Tomorrow isn’t just an album—it’s a cultural storm, and “Drive” is the eye. The Weeknd, stepping deeper into the blurred line between persona and performance, delivers a hypnotic new video that’s less music clip, more cinematic séance. The visual pairs him with Jenna Ortega, not just a co-star, but a mirror—emotional, fractured, quietly powerful.
Set against the ghostly backdrop of an amusement park at dusk, “Drive” isn’t about thrills. It’s about the silence between them. Ferris wheel rides morph into metaphors for looping heartbreak, moments of fleeting intimacy that spin in place but go nowhere. Ortega’s presence is radiant and distant, embodying the ache of love that’s already leaving. The camera never rushes; it lingers, it mourns.
The second half of the video collapses into something darker. The transition into “Baptized in Fear” is seamless and suffocating. The Weeknd slips under water—literally and metaphorically. As he sings about paralysis and pressure in a bathtub-turned-tomb, you feel the weight not just of water, but of finality. It’s the echo of a persona being drowned, a chapter closing.
Directed by Trey Edward Shults, who also helms the upcoming Hurry Up Tomorrow feature film (out May 16), the visual underscores the psychological tension teased in trailers. Ortega’s on-screen line—“You are hurting yourself and you are hurting everyone around you… something has to change”—hits harder here, reverberating in every frame.
And yet, there’s something playful lurking in the pain. The now-iconic Ferris wheel may return in a real-world twist: The Weeknd has teased a mysterious “Ferris wheel takeover” at Coachella 2025’s second weekend. What that means remains unclear, but given the themes of Hurry Up Tomorrow, expect spectacle laced with symbolism.
This could very well be the final bow for The Weeknd, as Abel Tesfaye has hinted at retiring the moniker. If that’s true, then “Drive” is not just a video—it’s a requiem. Beautiful. Bleak. Unforgettable.