I don’t know if The Weeknd’s “Big Sleep” video is specifically inspired by Rick & Morty, but given his propensity for guest-starring on animated shows like The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, and American Dad, it doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.
After all, the concept is scarily similar to that of the fan-favorite season two Rick & Morty episode, “Get Schwifty.” In that now-decade-old story (what is time, anyway?), the Cromulons — giant, musical reality show-loving, disembodied heads — appear over the Earth, demanding the people of our puny planet to “show me what you got.”
In “Big Sleep,” the giant disembodied body parts belong to Abel himself, who appears as both a big floating head and a hand pointing toward the sky. Fairly quickly, though, the video gets very psychedelic, flashing rapidly through the RBG spectrum (red, blue, green — it’s what makes your TV work!) like the strobe lights at a rave. Perhaps he’s sending subliminal signals, but this is probably the most abstract video from Hurry Up Tomorrow yet, given how most of them have at least operated on some terrestrial concern like cults, dark fantasy alternate worlds, and the nature of the afterlife.
The clip also taps into The Weeknd’s love for avant-garde cinema; it’s directed by Gaspar Noé, one of the vanguards of the New French Extremity movement, and features composer Giorgio Moroder, who scored films including Midnight Express, American Gigolo, and of course, Scarface.
You can watch the “Big Sleep” video above.
