After first linking up in 2014 for “Love Me Harder,” Ariana Grande and The Weeknd reunite today for “off the table.” Unlike their previous radio-friendly team-up, the two artists' new song, “off the table,” is a slow R&B jam. It’s produced by Shintaro Yasuda, Travis Sayles, and TBHits, and finds Ari and Abel questioning the future of a relationship in a way that doubles as a commentary on The Weeknd’s career evolution.
The Weeknd’s verse finds him dropping several references, including one to “Love Me Harder”:
You’re trying to fill the void with a couple boys
I can see right through it (You can see right through it)
I can you love you harder than I did before
Was in a dark place back then
Immediately after, he references his 2015 hit, “The Hills”:
I was toxic, then I was toxic to someone else
I was haunted by the hills (Oh yeah, yeah)
I couldn’t give you my all, but I will
Although the lyrics are about a relationship, they also speak to the singer’s career trajectory. After breaking out as a moody internet favorite, the Canadian star was coming off the relative commercial disappointment of his 2013 debut album, Kiss Land, when he teamed up with Ari for the first time in 2014. Before he experienced massive commercial success with Beauty Behind the Madness tracks like “The Hills” and “I Can’t Feel My Face,” Grande helped The Weeknd score his first major hit on radio and the Hot 100 chart with “Love Me Harder.”
“Love Me Harder” peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100 chart, The Weeknd’s first Top 10 hit, and eventually went 3x Platinum. Calling back to the mental state he was in just before the hit that helped change his career, The Weeknd comes full circle on “off the table” with a much more sultry, down-tempo record.
Read all the lyrics to Ariana Grande’s “off the table” featuring The Weeknd on Genius now.
