“Save Your Tears” by The Weeknd

In “Save Your Tears”, The Weeknd is addressing an ex-girlfriend. And regardless of what type of first impression one may get when reading its title, the reason he is actually telling her to “save your tears” is because he wants to get back with her. He basically doesn’t want her to cry when she sees him.  That is to say that he acknowledges that he broke her heart. And further elaborating in the third verse, he lets it be known that made promises to her, i.e. always being by her side, which he didn’t keep.

So the way the situation reads now is as if they were to randomly run into each other she would become upset, cry and even walk pass him as if she doesn’t recognize The Weeknd. And being treated in such a manner is likewise causing him discomfort. But more to the point, he has come to realize how he himself was a faulty partner, being afraid to commit on top of being dishonest. And all of these sentiments combined have him pleading with her to take him back. And yes, he knows that in that regard he is “much too late”, on top of she “deserv(ing) someone better”, as in the chances of her actually taking him back being virtually nonexistent. 

So going a bit out on a limb here, perhaps his overall goal is just to make her feel better by admitting that their breakup was in fact his fault in addition to expressing his regret for having lost her.

Facts about “Save Your Tears”

It has been hypothesized that this song is actually about two well-known ex-girlfriends of The Weeknd. They are Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez. In terms of Selena in particular the first line of “Save Your Tears” has been interpreted by some to intentionally feature an acknowledgement of a track she dropped earlier in 2020 entitled “Crowded Room”.

“Save Your Tears” itself was released on 20 March 2020 as part of The Weeknd’s album called “After Hours”. And the labels behind the track are his own The Weeknd XO, Inc. in conjunction with Republic Records.

The Weeknd wrote this song along with the following:

• Belly
• DaHeala
• Max Martin
• Oscar Holter

And all of them, with the exception of DaHeala, also produced the track.

Chart Performances

The Weeknd collaborated with Ariana Grande on a 2021 remix of this song. This new version, which came out on 23 April 2021, was more successful than the original.

The remix reached #1 in United States of America, Canada and Croatia.

It also garnered a couple of Top-10 positions in these regions: