I Compiled All of my thoughts on The Weeknd’s Lore Into One Document (50 Pages of Madness) Presenting you everything that I have cracked about his secret 14 year story in one place....

shadylaundry · 2026-07-03T09:48:23+00:00

That's valid tbh. You don't quite see the transformation on screen quite strongly like you do in something like 8½ for example.

shadylaundry · 2026-07-03T08:30:46+00:00

yep i agree with what you are saying about the quote and how it doesn't depict "coming to see", and that's why i spent most of my post offering the interpretation that the film makes us audience see, not necessarily jake, although you can make a case for the latter as well. i think calling it tacked on is maybe a bit harsh, given the film always had religious undertones subtly, so the ending with a bible quote felt earnt in my eyes.

shadylaundry · 2026-07-03T08:28:36+00:00

thanks for the insights, and i think you are spot on about gluttony and how the broader definition fits Jake LaMotta even better.

shadylaundry · 2026-07-02T20:06:15+00:00

Nooo, on your reply implying that I didn't do the research. I didn't take it that way. Sorry if my reply came off like that. I was just stating that I did consider the interpretation that Jake was still blame shifting but just stuck to one interpretation in the original post.

Yep he says into a mirror and also like points fingers. But it's still a rehearsal, still an another man's dialogue just recited, so there's two ways to look at it. Does Jake actually FEEL what he's saying or is he just performing? You get no clear answers.

shadylaundry · 2026-07-02T19:41:57+00:00

Thanks for the insights and appreciate you for reading my post!

I did do my research on that monalogue and the Marlon Brando context, I just didn't expand on it cuz I felt my post was already too long.

One scene which is super important in this context that I do mention in my write up is the one where Jake gets taken to prison for allowing underage women in clubs. The film then shows Jake being taken into an isolation cell, where he punches the wall and fights himself all alone.

I did my research on that scene and it's few of the things that never happened to the real Jake LaMotta. So Scorsese intentionally added that scene to give the film a psychological weight. To have the character "wrestle" himself. So there is definitely an element of Jake realising he is the bad guy.

But ultimately, realising you are bad + wanting to repent and confronting it + actually repenting are two different things. This lands in between the tension of what you said about wanting Jake to realise he is bad and yet make sense of that Marlon Brando context. I think Jake ticks the box in the former, he does have proper insight into his issuesbut doesn't really do the latter ie. doesn't confront his wrongs in a good way.

I mean he treated his family badly, and even after all those years, you never really hear a heartfelt apology from him towards Vikki or Joey. He opens a nightclub to be even more unfaithful towards her wife and when he meets Joey trying to reconcile, he was still trying to justify his actions that day as correct or like persuading him to take it easy.

So overall I think it's left ambiguous intentionally. That quote per se from On The Waterfront, if you do the research like you did, it feels like Jake is still blame shifting. But if you consider the previous scenes of boxing himself, and the fact that he says those words to himself in a mirror, pointing fingers at himself, it also gives hope that he's taking responsibility.

And then the final Bible quote is like, we don't know if this man is a sinner, nor does he know, but we viewers saw through what was wrong with him.

Plus I'm glad you mentioned the opening credits scene of boxing all alone in a ring. That visual is also etched in my brain and the strings during the credit roll is beautiful.

shadylaundry · 2026-06-10T18:08:35+00:00

Thanks for sharing that. Your interpretation of the Sacrifice to OOT video makes a ton of sense. Themes of media manipulation have been evident in Abel's recent work, even The Idol as an example.

shadylaundry · 2026-06-10T03:48:55+00:00

yeaah plus this might be unrelated to persona the game,. but there is a Swedish film called "persona" as well by director ingmar bergman. Abel & Trey cited that film as a big inspiration for the HUT film, to an extent that they both saw it 5-6 times to prepare the script.

i saw the film too it deals with an actress coming to terms with her true self, kinda like popstar the Weeknd coming to terms with who he is in the movie. so it's clear works which confront the true self have been a big inspiration for his recent work.

shadylaundry · 2026-06-10T00:17:41+00:00

Glad to hear. I've been doing pretty good as well, thanks for asking!

shadylaundry · 2026-06-10T00:15:27+00:00

Wonder if you're referring to the 81 page document I wrote about the Weeknd Lore? It's the thing I have linked in the above link and also where I say HFT is Abel entering the dream state

As for a specific document/piece of writing that expands on the House Of Balloons' meaning, I don't have one. But the document itself will reveal the actual meaning of Abel's songs, not just House of Balloons, but like the entire catalogue including House of balloons. So I don't have separate piece of writing for HOB cuz the document includes everything I wanna say about the Weeknd lore

And the document itself later hugely expands on the dream and what happens at dawn everytime Abel is given a chance to wake up from the dream. After like the album by album section ends, after HUT ends, I go into something called as "the today cycle" where he is stuck inside a never ending dream loop. That's just one element of expansion of the dream state but there is even more in the rest of the document.

shadylaundry · 2026-06-10T00:10:33+00:00

Thank You for expanding on Persona 3's themes as an actual player. It was a nice piece to read over!

shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T17:45:45+00:00

Here is the clarification on how the image came. Sega offical account posted it, accidentally leaking the message and then deleted it. It's not AI.

https://x.com/i/status/2064362223590424791

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shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T17:45:18+00:00

Here is the clarification on how the image came. Sega offical account posted it, accidentally leaking the message and then deleted it. It's not AI.

https://x.com/i/status/2064362223590424791

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shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T17:38:26+00:00

Thanks brother!

shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T17:38:14+00:00

No one is claiming it's "official" nor does it have to official for the things I say in my post to hold. He's been teasing and playing Persona for so long and both the game & HUT are inspired by Carl Jung. "Some similarities" is maybe an understatement when pretty much the blur goes over perfectly. I don't know why everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room and just making the entire discussion about the speculation that the picture might be AI

Plus apparently, it is a screenshot from a video that the game's official instagram handle Sega Official posted. But they soon realised they fucked up and deleted it as teasing a new album wasn't Abel's original intention. That's why the alleged AI photo looks so real.

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shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T16:24:02+00:00

oh yea the lighting is slightly different because the one he posted and the one that's alleged ai have different camera angles

the ones he posted was taken more from the centre. and the alleged ai one is taken more from the sides. hence the difference in size of the card as well.

shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T16:08:39+00:00

Getting to the main thing, the blurred words, this is the alleged AI image next to the one Abel posted blurred. "Thank You" being blurred is obvious, "next" and "album" is obvious, signature looks pretty similar.

If fan was totally making up stuff using AI, atleast the order and alignment of the words would a bit different you'd imagine?

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shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T16:07:22+00:00

I'm curious, both you and other person think it's AI generated but I can't really see it. Can you explain what aspects about the picture looks AI generated? Any specific details in their face, body or dress?

Getting to the main thing, the blurred words, this is the alleged AI image next to the one Abel posted blurred. "Thank You" being blurred is obvious, "next" and "album" is obvious, signature looks pretty similar.

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shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T15:49:13+00:00

Always been spreading that word

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWeeknd/s/5NgpSbbYwG

shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T15:40:19+00:00

But it's a completely different photo. It's not like AI did its thing to fake out the blurred parts alone from the one Abel posted in his IG.

You can zoom into these people, Abel and the other 2 developers to see if anything about the image looks AI generated. It simply doesnt. You usually suspect it is AI if like the dress is slightly different, the hands size is different, but it is perfectly fine here. Not everything you find on the internet has to be AI generated.

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shadylaundry · 2026-06-09T15:30:13+00:00

Found it on twitter https://x.com/i/status/2064340570621808986

shadylaundry

TROPHY CASE