The Occult Meaning of The Weeknd’s “Starboy”

Starboy features The Weeknd destroying his house using an illuminated cross. This strange scene has a powerful occult meaning, especially when one considers The Weeknd’s previous videos. We’ll take a closer look at the occult meaning of Starboy.

The Weeknd’s collaboration with Daft Punk is a somewhat perplexing one. While the lyrics celebrate the singer’s fame and material possessions, the video depicts him destroying his house using a red glowing cross. All the while, The Weeknd chants that he’s a “starboy”, a term that has more than one meaning.

While, at face value, starboy could mean a boy who is a star in the entertainment business, the symbolism associated with the song introduces an occult aspect to it all. Indeed, the video has a ritualistic tone which plays on the classical death and rebirth narrative found in esoteric initiations. Did The Weeknd ‘ascend’ in the occult world, making him a starboy?

The Previous Trilogy

In my first article about The Weeknd, I analyzed the videos Can’t Feel My Face, Tell Your Friends and The Hills which form a trilogy. When these three videos are pieced together, they tell a story about The Weeknd meeting a figure holding an apple – a reference to Lucifer in the garden of Eden.

This man holding an apple represents Lucifer from the garden of Eden and the industry that lit up The Weeknd’s career.

In Can’t Feel My Face, Lucifer literally sets The Weeknd on fire and figuratively lights up his career. Here’s a summation of the trilogy.

The story begins with a struggling The Weeknd trying to get people to notice him at gigs. The devil then lights him on fire and kick-starts his career. The Weeknd then realizes that the deal is awful so he buries this new singing creation and shoots the devil. However, the devil is not human and therefore cannot be killed. Furthermore, he is rather vengeful. Although The Weeknd believes he is alive and free, he finds himself in a car accident that nearly kills him. As he walks into the red room, he realizes that he cannot escape the devil. The devil holds an apple reminding him that the deal is non-voidable. The two ladies that were with The Weeknd were actually the devil’s minions and the near-fatal accident was actually a warning: Any further transgressions will result in death.

Although the devil brought him fame and success, The Weeknd is stuck in a loop where any attempts to break free lead him right back to the devil and his apple.

In Tell Your Friends, The Weeknd buries himself in the desert.

The “old” Weeknd sings through the plastic.

In Starboy, The Weeknd kills his old self again by suffocating him. Why does he keep killing himself? Because each death represents a new occult stage. He is now, apparently, a “starboy”.

Starboy

The video begins with a masked man entering The Weeknd’s house.

The Weeknd, with his trademark hairdo, is tied up to a chair.

The masked man then gets up and suffocates The Weeknd with a plastic bag.

The Weeknd is killed with a plastic bag on his head.

When the killer removes his mask, we are in for a big surprise.

It’s The Weeknd! And he shaved off that thing on his head! There is so much happening right now!

So, not unlike in Tell Your Friends, The Weeknd kills his “previous self”. To symbolize his rebirth, the new The Weeknd has a new hairstyle. The camera also focuses on another important item: The Weeknd’s cross pendant. This piece of jewelry underlines the spiritual undertone of what is happening on screen. Is The Weeknd now a devout Christian? Well, not really. After all, he just committed murder while wearing that chain, so that is not a good start.

The Weeknd passes by a painting featuring Daft Punk. Notice the falling star in the background and the black panther. They foretell where The Weeknd is heading.

The Weeknd then enters his bedroom and sees something that is not found in most bedrooms across the America.

A big illuminated cross hangs in his room.

The cross literally catches his eye. The cross reflects inside a single eye, the occult elite’s favorite symbol.

The Weeknd then grabs the cross, drags it on the floor, and uses it to destroy his own house.

In a symbolic gesture, The Weeknd breaks his gold records and the cover of his first album.

While some might think that The Weeknd a Christian rebirth, where he leaves his material possessions to follow the path of Jesus, that is not what is happening. The lyrics basically state the exact opposite.

I’m tryna put you in the worst mood, ah
P1 cleaner than your church shoes, ah
Milli point two just to hurt you, ah
All red Lamb’ just to tease you, ah
None of these toys on lease too, ah
Made your whole year in a week too, yah
Main bitch out your league too, ah
Side bitch out of your league too, ah

In this verse, The Weeknd states that his P1 (a sports car) is cleaner than your church shoes (the rewards of the occult elite are greater than the life of a humble church going person). He also he makes a lot more money than you and that his girl (and the girl he cheats this girl with) are hotter than yours.

Later in the song, explains how he upgraded to a new table where his girl can snort cocaine from.

20 racks a table cut from ebony
Cut that ivory into skinny pieces
Then she clean it with her face man I love my baby

So, The Weeknd is not exactly becoming Jesus. He is simply boasting about the things he was given because he is chosen by the industry (who is represented by Lucifer in his previous videos). Also, this line sums it all even more blatantly:

We don’t pray for love, we just pray for cars

So why is he destroying his things? Because the video symbolizes The Weeknd entering a higher stage in the occult system that rules Hollywood.

The cover of the Starboy single cover sums up the occult transformation that is happening.

On the left are lightning bolts, in the middle are crosses (and a star) and on the right are more lightning bolts. There are six symbols in each column resulting in … 666.

The symbolism on this cover touches upon one of the most important concepts in occultism: The link between Lucifer, the morning star, and Venus.

In occult symbolism, the lightning bolt represents “descent” from the heavens to Earth. For this reason, the symbol is sometimes used to represent Lucifer who is said to have descended from the Kingdom of God to mankind. Lucifer is also known as the Morning Star and the Light Bringer. The same terms have been used since the dawn of time to describe the planet Venus. Venus is esoterically associated with the symbol of the 5-pointed star and the pentagram due to its “astronomical dance” in the skies.

The pentagram (also called pentacle, pentalpha, pentancle, pentagle, or pentangle) is thought by some occultists to trace its esoteric significance to an astronomical observance of the pattern of Venus’ conjunctions with the Sun and has had many meanings in many cultures through the ages.
– BC Freemasonry, “The Pentagram”

The path of Venus around Earth. Known as the “morning star” and the “light bringer”, the planet bears the same names as Lucifer.

The cover of Starboy touches upon these symbolic links and refer to a level of higher occult initiation. The cover depicts a duality between two opposing forces, Lucifer (represented by lightning bolts) and Jesus (the cross). When internalized, the duality creates the magical symbol of the pentagram.

The symbolism of Starboy is reminiscent of the symbolism associated with David Bowie. Indeed, as I described in my article The Occult Universe of David Bowie and the Meaning of “Blackstar”, Bowie had an alter persona named Ziggy Stardust who had strong occult and kabbalistic leanings.

Ziggy Stardust’s with his iconic lightning bolt.

For his fifth album, Bowie introduced the alter-ego Ziggy Stardust, an androgynous alien rock star who was sent by the “Infinites” to announce the coming of Starmen to Earth. Not unlike Lucifer, Ziggy Stardust descended on Earth from the heavens.

Therefore, the symbolism around Starboy represents The Weeknd fully adhering to “higher levels” the occult elite’s system.

This picture in the Starboy booklet features the One-Eye sign. This means “I am part of the occult elite”.

Back to the video. After destroying his things and burning down his clothes, The Weeknd leaves his house.

Before leaving, a black cat follows The Weeknd.

In Western folklore, black cats were associated with magick and witchcraft. They were believed to be witches’ “familiars”- spirits who aid and protect them while they accomplish their magical work.

Inside the car, the cat became much bigger and powerful, representing the growing occult power associated with higher levels of initiation.

Inside his very expensive sports car, The Weeknd rolls deeper on the Hollywood Hills, representing that he is going deeper inside the occult elite’s industry.

A shot of the illuminated cross laying on the ground tells us that this was not about The Weeknd becoming Christian. It was about occult initiation to a higher level and the cross was a prop in the ritualistic process.

In Conclusion

The Weeknd is now a “starboy”, a boy who was hand-picked by the elite to become a “higher level” star. Because of this, he owns a bunch of cool things that he brags about in his songs, making his fans jealous of his success. This success, however, comes at a cost. He is still owned by the elite – those who initiated them. To become a starboy, he has to kill his old self while wearing a cross and he must pledge his allegiance by ritualistically destroying his possessions using a cross. Using this Christian symbol to commit death and destruction is part of the soul-selling process.

Starboy is therefore not about The Weeknd becoming Christian or  “changing his style”. The video is in perfect continuation of his previous videos where he was “discovered” by Lucifer and was made a star.  At the next level of initiation, things get very serious. While The Weeknd boast about his “P1 being cleaner than your church shoes”, the video tells us that he is still owned by Lucifer – the morning star. And The Weeknd is his starboy.