THE WEEKND DROPS HIS SAD EP

Remember when Rihanna breezily encouraged us to “cheers to the freakin’ weekend” on 2010’s “Loud”? We are hereby submitting a request to switch those lyrics to “the freakin’ Weeknd,” because this guy seems to need our good wishes more than ever before.

The Weeknd dropped a 21-minute EP last week to the relative surprise of we mere plebeians, who only found out about the project when he teased album art earlier in the day. “My Dear Melancholy,” — yes, that pesky comma is a part of the name — is the Canadian singer’s first project after 2016’s “Starboy,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. He has also since appeared on tracks from Kendrick Lamar’s “Black Panther” soundtrack and rapper Trouble’s “Edgewood.”

Given his popularity, it makes sense that his EP reached the No. 1 spot on the iTunes album chart just hours after its release. But listeners who expected something similar to the pop-house vibes of “Starboy” were likely thrown for a loop. As the name suggests, “My Dear Melancholy,” marks a return to the Weeknd’s gloomy mood, which longtime listeners will recognize from his acclaimed 2011 mix tape “House of Balloons.”

The reason behind much of this sorrow is presumably his most recent ex-girlfriend: Selena Gomez. The pair broke up in October, a month after Gomez revealed that she had undergone a kidney transplant to treat her Lupus. The Weeknd appears to address this in the EP’s first track, “Call Out My Name,” when he sings, “I almost cut out a piece of myself for your life / Guess I was just another pit stop ‘til you made up your mind.” (Gomez and her exboyfriend Justin Bieber were photographed together in November, a reunion that we assume contributed to the heartbreaking lyrics.)