The Weeknd has featured on “Poison,” a new posthumous single from the late R&B star Aaliyah.
The track marks the first piece of new material from the superstar, who died in a plane crash in 2001, in over a decade. It precedes a forthcoming posthumous album titled Unstoppable, which will be released on Blackground Records 2.0/EMPIRE next year.
“Poison” was written by Aaliyah’s long-time collaborator and friend Static Major alongside The Weeknd, while it was produced by DannyBoyStyles and Nick Lamb. The soulful R&B track drifts dreamily through slowly building layers of synths and softly snapping beats, while Aaliyah and The Weeknd swap lines about the demise of a toxic relationship.
“At night, I lay awake in tears and pain,” Aaliyah sings at one point. “Searching my heart for what went wrong/Asking myself ‘What’s going on?’/Why cannot we seem to see things eye to eye?”
The Weeknd responds with his thoughts on the chorus, singing: “You’re so cold, I can see your breath, I swear/They told me not to fall in love/Wondering where it all went wrong/You were my poison all along.”
In a press release, Barry Hankerson, founder of Blackground Records, said: “I’m so excited to share this new song by Aaliyah and the very talented The Weeknd. I wanted her adoring fans to get a special gift before the holidays and felt it was the perfect time to release a never-before-heard offering.”
Earlier this year, Aaliyah’s back catalog was released on streaming services for the first time as part of a new partnership with the label EMPIRE.
Meanwhile, The Weeknd has also shared another new collaboration this week, this time teaming up with FKA Twigs on “Tears In The Club”.
The track follows other recent joint projects the award-winning megastar has worked on, including Post Malone’s “One Right Now”, Swedish House Mafia’s “Moth To A Flame” and Rosalía’s “La Fama”.