The Weeknd Pays Tribute To Prince In New HBO Series ‘The Idol’
The new HBO original series “The Idol” starring actress Lily-Rose Depp and Abel ‘The Weeknd‘ Tesfaye has stirred up ‘Controversy‘ (get it? Prince song) since April of last year when its director Amy Seimetz left the project due to production delays and creative differences even though much of the series was already filmed.
The show’s co-creator Sam Levinson (who is also the co-creator of ‘Euphoria‘ starring Zendaya) took over as director making creative adjustments and crew changes to best serve the new direction of the series scrapping the work Seimetz had done.
The Weeknd is co-writer and an executive producer of the scripted series about a female pop singer who starts a romance with an L.A. nightclub owner who happens to be the leader of a secret cult. ‘The Idol‘ is definitely rated for mature audiences as the show contains nudity, drug use, and explicit language. HBO promoted the show as “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood”.
Watch the official teaser trailer below:
The first episode premiered June 4 with new episodes airing Sunday nights at 9pm.
I finally sat down to watch the show last night and (without dishing any plot spoilers) was captivated by Lily-Rose Depp‘s performance from the opening scene. The show goes 0-60 like a ‘Little Red Corvette‘ with the main character (Jocelyn) exposing herself during a photoshoot while her team goes into crisis management mode trying to control a leaked photo of the star.
Though not for everyone, I thought some of the dark humor was hilarious and found the ‘behind-the-scenes’ look of the music industry fondly familiar.
Prince Music And References Featured In ‘The Idol’
Most people watching the first episode won’t even catch it but being a Prince fan, I found myself excitedly pointing to the screen during a scene where Jocelyn (Depp) walks down the hallway of her home. There in the background hanging on her wall are large framed posters of Prince.
Not only do the main characters, Jocelyn and Tadros have a conversation about Prince but the episode ends with Prince‘s ‘Darling Nikki‘ playing throughout the credits.
The references to Prince were a great ending to what would have been Prince‘s 65th birthday yesterday. If you love Prince as much as I do, be sure to follow me on Instagram at @picazzoboy and stay in touch with Jammin’ 105.7 here.
