Someone on Reddit just challenged me to write an essay on the car seen in Dawn FM's teaser trailer and as a former poly sci major who loves writing essays with a deep love for Abel himself, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to explore the parallels, themes and symbolism that this car represents! (The car is the same car we see in The Hills music video as well fyi)

I understand asking you to read this is a big ask, so I'll just share it here in case anyone else wants to think a little more about the metaphors behind the car in the teaser trailer for "Dawn FM" & how it relates to Abel and his entire discography. Please feel free to read my own interpretation only if you wish :) XOTWOD ❤

After reflecting on the symbolism of the car, audiences start to grasp two various dichotomies surrounding the car seen in both, "The Hills" and, the "Dawn FM" teaser trailer. Audiences recognize that within these dichotomies lie themes of apathy, pleasure, desire and indifference towards the monster that is the industry itself which is coming for Abel whether he wants it to or not.

At the rise of Abel's fame, "The Weeknd" is nothing more than a character loosely based on Abel's past experiences however this character is greatly exaggerated and doesn't come to actually represent who Abel Tesfaye is as a person. Nevertheless, as Abel makes his way swimming with the sharks in the industry, audiences begin to see Abel and The Weeknd not only parallel each other, but become tied together as one. Abel is no longer indistinguishable from the very character he created and with this, audiences can look at the car in Dawn FM's trailer to represent a mode of transport Abel uses to drive further away from who he was and towards who he is as both a person and the heartless character he has become.

For example, Abel uses the car in, "The Hills" to drive towards pleasure, symbolized as women who he uses for s***and thus, a quick thrill. In this way, Abel uses his car to simply pass through the glits and glam of The Hills and it is not his final destination, as audiences understand that Abel is either dropping these women off or going to their homes to sleep with them, but regardless he will still be leaving The Hills. This isn't a permanent place for Abel and The Hills (which signify the evil within the industry), weren't permanent for him either, or at least, so he thought. Abel is only seeking a momentary experience, and at this point, he is still his own person and has not molded into the character that audiences recognize as The Weeknd.

In this way, the car in The Hills represents a way for Abel to make his way both to and from the throws of the industry or for him to escape evil and not immerse himself in it. He can choose when he wants to take a quick peak behind the curtain of the industry, but it hasn't consumed him... yet. While he does ultimately crash in The Hills, it was not his decision to stay there for a long duration. As a result, audiences sense that Abel realizes there is a separation from who he is and what the industry wants him to be. Even so, we do see Abel express apathy, symbolized by him showing very little concern to the women who were also affected by the car crash and audiences are quick to learn that every time Abel drives through the metaphorical Hills, it is slowly grabbing ahold of who Abel is and slowly transforming him into the very thing he most wants not to become. With the car crash representing a stall before Abel can escape, Abel chooses to confront the industry once more and knowingly walks into a room offering him all the pleasure he could ever want. Beautiful women, riches, etc, await him, but in return, he must sign a deal with the devil himself the industry in order to achieve all he thinks he ever wanted. Audiences learn that Abel has indeed signed that deal and so Abel has quite literally used his car to drive into the depths of his own personal hell. What he once drove to seek momentary pleasure has become his personal transport to a life of permanent corruption and evilness.

As Abel continues achieving success, he is simultaneously trying to evade the consequences of his own actions. Audiences especially see this in his latest album, After Hours, in which the blinders of what fame really is have lifted and Abel understands his life will forever be stained by the sins of his past and personal demons which have dragged him into a world of darkness and despair. Abel fails over and over when trying to find his own happiness as he recognizes that things are not quite what they seem. But, it is too late. Abel's fame precedes him and even when taken out of both the physical and metaphorical setting that is LA, he can never really escape. Everyone knows who The Weeknd is, what he has become, and what they want to take from him. Women use him just so they can say they slept with The Weeknd, artists steal from him, and most importantly, no matter how far he drives away, he can never outrun what the industry has turned him into. At the end of After Hours, audiences understand that while Abel lives with immense regret, he has come to finally accept who he is and that once a deal with the devil has been made, there is nowhere he can go to break it. Here Abel and The Weeknd are the cusp of merging into one person and suddenly he himself has become the character because Abel Tesfaye is no longer real. It is all a facade and he knows it.

This takes us to Dawn FM's teaser trailer in which Abel has finally recognized that he is The Weeknd and there's nothing he can do about it. Audiences are told that all of us must "accept our fate" and thus, so must Abel. Abel uses the car that he had once used for momentary gratification as a method of transport to drive towards his permanent state, who he really is. He sees things as they are, and whereas he had once crashed into the Hills accidentally, he now has intentionally made the choice to drive towards the inevitable. He realizes that Abel Tesfaye is the mask, and The Weeknd is who he is. But make no mistake, he is not the only one here who wears a disguise to fool those ignorant to the realities of evil. What was once an innocent object, a car, has now become a tool Abel must use to understand his human nature and the nature of everyone around him. Dawn represents light and while Abel is still surrounded by darkness, his light is finally accepting who he is and being content with that. His car featured in Dawn FM, didn't drive Abel away, instead, it brought him to who he has ultimately become.

tldr

If you scroll to the very end and just read the last paragraph, I'd imagine that's a TLDR that accurately describes the symbolism behind the car both in The Hills & Dawn FM :]

great job op

Thanks so much!! :)

:]

Too bad they’re not the same cars lmao. The car in BBTM is a Lincoln Continental, the same car that is in the Pretty music video. The car in the Dawn teaser is a Cadillac El Dorado.

great read. good job op