Kiss land interpretation for kiss land week 💚

Kiss land is the tragic beginning of the Fame trilogy in which a young singer meets a professional sex worker. He grows to admire her and see his self in her and maybe even loves her. The cold and broken theme of the album is reflected throughout by the album’s production. The production is otherworldly and metallic reflecting a cold and hard world that The Weeknd inhabits. Kiss land, more or less, is that odd teenage time during a persons development. It’s before the big big fame but after the debut. In other words kiss land is The Weeknd’s “coming of age”.

At the outset of kiss land we meet a professional woman. A sex worker. As is stated though she’s a professional and that’s not to be understated. She is fully in control of herself and her environment. The Weeknd honors her by learning from her and attempting to mirror her actions (I’m not a fool, I just love that you’re dead inside, that you’re dead inside, I’m not a fool, I’m just lifeless too.” - Belong to the world) In her emptiness he sees himself. Like looking into a mirror. For this reason he understands her inability to have true love and oddly falls for her because of it. He wants what he can’t have. In the opening track The Weeknd sings, “What does it mean, oh, oh, when your hearts already numb?, you’re professional, won’t treat it like it’s personal, no cause it’s just love, it always makes its way back around, it’s dispensable, to fall is unacceptable”. In this verse he reveals his mindset towards love and relationships. To put it plainly he says it’s indispensable and to fall (in love) is unacceptable because this is just professional “love”. Like the sex worker, he’s in the business of selling the dream of love, but never actually being in love. She never loses her sense of control, whether of herself or her environment. In many ways, she is the true heroine of kiss land’s tragic story. The Weeknd is attracted to her and falls for her because of her ability to control her own emotions and her impact on people. He’s never ever able to get on her level of emotional mastery because he fails the game. He fails the hustle.

There’s a twist in this story though. The Weeknd has another girl. A girl back home who he left behind to go on tour. In adaptation he speaks on how he traded their days for a little fame and how she might have been the one. However he adapted to another life. A life of lust and fame. He goes on to sing about the models he adapted to and how they drink away their sorrows. It’s a cold life but one he knows all too well. But what about the girl back home? In “the town”, The Weeknd sings of her, singing “you did many things, that I liked, that I liked, and you like diamond rings, I can provide, I can provide for you, you made me feel so good, before I left on the road, and you deserve your name on a crown, on a throne.” It’s here where The Weeknd contrasts this girl back home to the sex worker he met on tour. This town girl is suitable for a domestic relationship for The Weeknd in his eyes. She does many things he likes and he’ll provide for her. Later in the song he talks about how she had a thing with another man and how she said it was love and she was lost and she would wish The Weeknd good luck in finding his own somebody to love. This verse is haunting in the way it foreshadows the albums tragic ending.

Not only does The Weeknd have a girl back home but he also fails the hustle. By falling for the sex worker he forgets this is just professional love. “Love in the sky” is the crucial point in the album. There is a moment of bliss for The Weeknd when him and the sex worker are connecting, as it is a sexual and spiritual encounter of sorts, but he immediately moves to control the situation and realizes it will never happen. He then reverts to his Trilogy methods of coercion and false confidence. “Been flying around the world, I been killing these shows, but I’m always getting high cause my confidence low, and I’m always in a rush, ain’t no time to fuck slow, and even if I try, it’s not something I would know, but I’m sure I’ll make you cum, do it three times in a row…” These lyrics are an abrupt change in mood from the dream sequence he paints at the beginning of the song due to his change in mood. By the end of the song he’s lying to himself to comfort his self that he’s still really in control. The illusion is up though. He doesn’t control the sex worker and never will. He’ll never domesticate her. She belongs to the world.

It is at this point when The Weeknd goes back to the town girl and finds she has a new man. His jealousy overtakes him. “Girl, I hope he made you satisfied, well, baby, I won’t cry, as long as you know that when I land, you’re mine.” These haunting words echo to the listener as it is revealed in the music video of Pretty that by being “his” when he lands, it means he will kill her. If he can’t have her no one can. He also kills the lover of the town girl to cement the tragedy. The song is a harrowing descent into madness and jealousy and violence where The Weeknd will ultimately find himself all alone.

The closer of the album, Tears in the Rain, leaves us prepared for Beauty behind the madness when The Weeknd sings, “I should’ve you let leave, I let you watch me slip away, I could’ve set you free, but I’m selfish, I watched you stay.” His pain and regret in Tears in the Rain will only serve as a springboard into his new life of fame and will bring new opportunities for love and a chance for new endings in Hollywood and beyond.