On Friday March 30, Abel, better known by his stage name, The Weeknd, dropped his first solo album since 2016. No one saw it coming, but it seems like everyone is ecstatic that it happened. The EP is called “My Dear Melancholy” and contains only six songs, but each song is deeply passionate and expressive. The Weeknd is known for having his own style and steering away from typical R&B. He truly pours so much raw, authentic emotion into his lyrics and this definitely makes The Weeknd stand out when compared to other artists.

The Weeknd teased us all about the surprise release on March 27 with an Instagram post. The post included a screenshot of a conversation between him and his close friend from high school, who also happens to be a creative director. The Weeknd texted, “Should we drop Friday? I’m indifferent to be honest.”

As fate should have it, the album did drop that Friday. The songs featured on the EP include “Call Out My Name,” “Try Me,” “Wasted Times,” “I Was Never There,” “Hurt You” and “Privilege.” The album times out to only 21 minutes.

Since “My Dear Melancholy” was released, there has been much speculation on just who these songs are about. In my opinion, the song “Call Out My Name” is based on The Weeknd’s former relationship with Selena Gomez. The lyrics are definitely fitting to their relationship, especially the lyrics, “I put you on top/I claimed you so proud and openly.” It would be an understatement to say that The Weeknd did not care at all about anyone’s opinion towards his relationship with Selena.

Other lyrics in “Call Out My Name” completely indicate the song is based on Selena Gomez. Toward the end of 2017, the actress and singer revealed that she had undergone a kidney transplant as a result of her battle with Lupus. In “Call Out My Name,” The Weeknd says, “I said I didn’t feel nothing baby, but I lied/I almost cut a piece of myself for your life.” While this doesn’t specifically reference Gomez or her transplant procedure, it absolutely does sound like he was willing to donate a vital organ for her.

On a completely different note, there is much speculation surrounding the song “Wasted Times.” I definitely think this song is based on The Weeknd’s long time girlfriend prior to his relationship with Selena; Bella Hadid. “Wasted times I spent with someone else/She wasn’t even half of you/Reminiscing how you felt/And even though you put my life through hell/I can’t seem to forget about you/I want you to myself/Now I’m asking who do you belong to now?” These lyrics certainly cannot be mistaken for anyone else that has been in The Weeknd’s life. Later in the song, The Weeknd sings, “I ain’t got no business catching feelings anyway/I ain’t got no business catching feelings, catching feelings/These girls only want you when you end it/But you been with me from the beginning.” These lyrics are also true to The Weeknd’s previous relationship with Hadid. They dated for almost two years when The Weeknd just began making a name for himself. He also references equestrian, which is an activity that has been near and dear to Bella’s heart since her childhood.

Aside from questioning where all of these lyrics stem from, fans everywhere are also praising The Weeknd for his work. Rapper Travis Scott tweeted, “Abel new album is cray. It’s like when I first heard him for the first time.” On the day of the album’s release, actor Ansel Elgort tweeted, “Listen to the new Weeknd album now. The whole thing. Start to finish. Do yourself a favor. It’s special and years from now you can say I listened to that the day it came out.”

For anyone who hasn’t listened to “My Dear Melancholy” yet, I highly recommend and encourage it.