He's a big film buff too, a real cinephile. We were talking about the horror vibe for "In Your Eyes," and we mentioned the nightclub scene, and he asked if I knew the Tech Noir club from Terminator—there's this scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger goes to the club and shoots everybody, and you can see the name of the club in the background. And I said, “Yeah, it's such a sick name for a nightclub.” We kept talking, and as you can see in our video, the club is called After Hours, and it's the exact same font and lightbulb texture as the one from Terminator.

Over email, Tesfaye explains how much of this was influenced by existing touchstones: eclectic films from cult favorites like Andrzej Żuławski’s Posession to more obvious fare like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; from the incredibly specific (like nods to erotic horror flick Trouble Every Day in “Blinding Lights”) to more broad inspirations (“almost every thriller film you can think of in the ‘70s and ‘80s for ‘In Your Eyes,’” says Tesfaye). Despite the varying source material, the synthesis is so deft that the stitches are barely visible.

“Heartless” is funny. It’s still dark but the viewers definitely have never seen me in that light: very animated, you’re watching these goofy guys all f—ed up and drunk and it’s like the quintessential Vegas trip, very “Mask” inspired, falling over and laughing.

Especially in the “After Hours” video, I went full-on film geek: There’s the “Chinatown” reference with the broken nose, the “Jacobs Ladder” reference with the subway, “King of Comedy” for Jimmy Kimmel, “Trouble Every Day,” “Possession,” “Dressed to Kill” with the elevator — and of course “After Hours,” Martin Scorsese’s [1985] film, is the obvious inspiration, with all this madness taking place in one night. That was the only on the nose reference — pun intended!

Especially in the “After Hours” video, I went full-on film geek: There’s the “Chinatown” reference with the broken nose, the “Jacobs Ladder” reference with the subway, “King of Comedy” for Jimmy Kimmel, “Trouble Every Day,” “Possession,” “Dressed to Kill” with the elevator — and of course “After Hours,” Martin Scorsese’s [1985] film, is the obvious inspiration, with all this madness taking place in one night. That was the only on the nose reference — pun intended!

Especially in the “After Hours” video, I went full-on film geek: There’s the “Chinatown” reference with the broken nose, the “Jacobs Ladder” reference with the subway, “King of Comedy” for Jimmy Kimmel, “Trouble Every Day,” “Possession,” “Dressed to Kill” with the elevator — and of course “After Hours,” Martin Scorsese’s [1985] film, is the obvious inspiration, with all this madness taking place in one night. That was the only on the nose reference — pun intended!

Especially in the “After Hours” video, I went full-on film geek: There’s the “Chinatown” reference with the broken nose, the “Jacobs Ladder” reference with the subway, “King of Comedy” for Jimmy Kimmel, “Trouble Every Day,” “Possession,” “Dressed to Kill” with the elevator — and of course “After Hours,” Martin Scorsese’s [1985] film, is the obvious inspiration, with all this madness taking place in one night. That was the only on the nose reference — pun intended!

Especially in the “After Hours” video, I went full-on film geek: There’s the “Chinatown” reference with the broken nose, the “Jacobs Ladder” reference with the subway, “King of Comedy” for Jimmy Kimmel, “Trouble Every Day,” “Possession,” “Dressed to Kill” with the elevator — and of course “After Hours,” Martin Scorsese’s [1985] film, is the obvious inspiration, with all this madness taking place in one night. That was the only on the nose reference — pun intended!

Especially in the “After Hours” video, I went full-on film geek: There’s the “Chinatown” reference with the broken nose, the “Jacobs Ladder” reference with the subway, “King of Comedy” for Jimmy Kimmel, “Trouble Every Day,” “Possession,” “Dressed to Kill” with the elevator — and of course “After Hours,” Martin Scorsese’s [1985] film, is the obvious inspiration, with all this madness taking place in one night. That was the only on the nose reference — pun intended!

Especially in the “After Hours” video, I went full-on film geek: There’s the “Chinatown” reference with the broken nose, the “Jacobs Ladder” reference with the subway, “King of Comedy” for Jimmy Kimmel, “Trouble Every Day,” “Possession,” “Dressed to Kill” with the elevator — and of course “After Hours,” Martin Scorsese’s [1985] film, is the obvious inspiration, with all this madness taking place in one night. That was the only on the nose reference — pun intended!