“Gasoline” by The Weeknd

It would appear, from the couple of songs from the album we have studied thus far, that “Dawn FM” is a project which relies on poetically open-ended and to some extent nonlinear lyrics. But the consensus appears to be that the primary issue this particular song (“Gasoline”) is speaking to is drug addiction on the part of the vocalist. And whom he is addressing is his lover.

The permeating sentiment throughout is that the vocalist has more or less lost faith in his ability to overcome the primary matter at hand. And by the looks of things, one of the roles the addressee plays in the grand scheme of it all is preventing The Weeknd from drugging himself to death.

But that said, he still acknowledges a possibility that such may happen regardless. That’s where the title of the song comes into play. When he mentions “gasoline” (all directly related lyrics considered), it comes off like an allusion to a funeral pyre. And that is the vocalist’s way of telling the addressee that when he does indeed “finally die in piece”, she shouldn’t make a big deal out of his passing. 

Indeed the fact that he even refers to the prospect of imminent death as being ‘peaceful’ indicates that the vocalist is dealing with a harrowing sense of depression, one so pervasive that even being alive has some of its appeal.

Well as for the entire “Dawn FM” project, it is one in which death is a recurring subtheme. Moreover, we know that this artist has harped on concepts like dangerous drug addiction in past works. So this piece shouldn’t be taken as The Weeknd himself actually being concerned that he may OD. Instead, such songs of his in the here and now are seemingly based on his past experiences with hard drugs.

Release Date of “Gasoline”

“Gasoline” is the second track on the playlist of “Dawn FM”, the album The Weeknd’s XO Records put out in conjunction with Republic Records on 7 January 2022. And the first time the vocalist made fans aware of the forthcoming of this track is when he revealed said playlist a couple of days prior, on 5 January.

Credits

The Weeknd produced and co-wrote “Gasoline” with Oneohtrix Point Never, a musician who has been involved in the creation of most of the tracks on “Dawn FM”. And the other co-writer of this song is Matt Cohn.