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Briana Rosenlieb

English 1201

Dean Leonard

13 February 2021

“Save Your Tears”

“Save Your Tears,” originally written by The Weeknd, first came out in August of 2020,

emphasizing the importance of self-worth. Ariana Grandes' version came out only a few months

later, but hers emphasized aspects of controlling relationships. "Save Your Tears" originally by

The Weeknd and "Save Your Tears (Remix)" with Ariana Grande have similar claims to their

videos, but their overall audience is vastly different. The Weeknd appeals to those who struggle

with their self-images, while Ariana Grande's version focuses more on those who are struggling

in relationships.

“Save Your Tears,” originally by The Weeknd, was posted on YouTube on January 5,

2021, and has produced well over 700 million views in the past year. The Weeknd’s music video

begins by panning through each band member, until finally getting to the band's lead singer,

Abel Tesfaye. Not only is the audience wearing masks, so is almost every band member, but

there's are covered in diamonds. Although everyone else is wearing a mask, Tesfaye is wearing

prosthetics that completely alter how he looks, which gives him a “botched” plastic surgery look.

The band seems to be performing on a dark stage at an award ceremony. Each audience member

is seated at round tables that circle the stage, just like the golden globes. Later in the video,

Tesfaye motions off stage and starts dancing and singing around the audience, but everyone

remains as still as statues. The camera eventually pans to a woman, which is the only audience
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member not wearing a mask. Tesfaye brings her on stage with him. Both are dancing and having

fun together, but Tesfaye is seen holding a gun behind his back throughout their encounter. The

stage lights flash and the woman is now seen holding the gun at Tesfaye’s head, but he creepily

continues to smile and keep singing to her. The screen cuts and Tesfaye is now seen singing and

dancing once again, but now without the woman on stage. Another few seconds later and now

Tesfaye is holding the gun to his head. He pulls the trigger, but only confetti came out. The

audience applauds and moves for the first and only time while Tesfaye just seems to happily

embrace it.

After viewing The Weeknds music video, a conclusion can be made that the video is

targeted towards those who are struggling with their self-image. The video can be for everyone

since anyone can struggle with how they view themselves, but it can be inferred that the music

video is pointed towards the younger generations since they are growing up with social media

surrounding them. Everyone's face being covered in the music video is The Weeknd's way of

saying that no one really expresses and shows their true selves anymore, which is really

influenced by social media in newer generations. The fact that the setting is placed at an award

show, and everyone Is wearing masks, just shows how much pressure is put on everyone to look

an ideal way. Each mask could easily be filters or edits that can make anyone look “perfect”, just

like the ones Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok utilizes. The end of the video shows Tesfaye

creepily happily during his apparent fake suicide, but deep down something seems off. He

worked too hard to please everyone else that he forgot to take care of himself in the end. The

lyrics “Save your tears for another day” expresses The Weeknds emotional way of trying to

appeal to the audience with pathos by saying that you shouldn't fake who you are just to please

everyone else. He is really trying to get his point crossed towards the audience that not
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everything seen on social media is real, so everyone should embrace who they truly are.

Although The Weeknd focuses on self-image issues, Ariana Grande’s version focuses more on

relationship struggles.

Ariana Grande’s version, posted on April 23, 2021, has produced over 150 million views.

Unlike The Weeknd’s version, Ariana Grande's music video is a cartoon. Her version starts off

with a beginning image of a factory in the middle of a desert. There is a doll head moving down

a conveyor belt, which resembles Ariana Grande’s physique. There is a character controlling

everyone, which we can assume is Tesfaye since he is wearing his signature sparkly red jacket

and black gloves. The doll continues to grow and evolve down the conveyer belt while Tesfaye

controls it. All of the machinery looks futuristic but worn out. Grande’s doll is eventually fully

built and meets Tesfaye at the end. The two meet and reach out for one another, but they never

physically touch each other. All of the machines in the factory start to shut down until everything

is off. The ending image of the video is Tesfaye standing next to Ariana Grande, but she is in a

Barbie-like box while he remains normal.

Although most of the lyrics are the same throughout both videos, Grande’s solo proves

that the targeted audience is those struggling through relationships. The fact that Tesfaye was

creating his ideal version of Ariana Grande shows that he is portraying a controlling partner that

has an ideal standard of what his partner should look like. Grande completely changed how she

looked since she anticipated Tesfaye’s approval, but in the end, it seems as though he does not

want her anymore since he won’t touch her and she is placed in a box, maybe to be sold off to

someone else who would want her. Grande’s lyrics, “Boy take me back because I want to stay”

also shows Grande practically begging for Tesfaye to take her back, but nothing seems to

happen. Grande’s version appeals to those struggling in their relationship with pathos. Grande
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emphasizes that it is important to realize that no one should have to alter themselves just for the

sake of someone else's approval, especially when significant others are supposed to love their

partners for who they are.

There are obviously differences between the two videos, but there is also clearly a

relationship between the two videos. Even though The Weeknd’s video and Grande’s video

focuses on separate issues, they both discuss battles that can affect many, whether it be internal

or with two people. Both videos also highlight each claim by appealing to the audience with

pathos. Deep down the videos could possibly have more similarities than differences.

In conclusion, “Save Your Tears” with The Weeknd and “Save Your Tears” with Ariana

Grande have dissimilar targeted audiences since The Weeknd aims toward those battling with

self-worth issues, while Ariana Grande aims towards those battling relationship issues. Some

may claim that both versions are portrayed for the same audience since both videos portray some

type of issue, but they are clearly pointed toward two different groups of people. The Weeknd’s

video can be for anyone since almost everyone can struggle with self-image issues, but not

everyone is in controlling relationships like Grande portrays in her video.

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Works Cited

The Weeknd - save your tears (official music video) - YouTube. (n.d.). Accessed on Feb. 13,
2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXYlFuWEuKI
The Weeknd & Ariana Grande - Save Your Tears ... - YouTube. Accessed on Feb. 13, 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIIDh-qI9oI.