What does "Six Feet Under" by The Weeknd mean?

What does "Six Feet Under" by The Weeknd mean?

And we continue marching through Starboy by The Weeknd. It's my goal to explain the whole thing, and we'll see if that happens, but we're going to try. In the meantime, "Six Feet Under" is one of the more interesting songs on the Starboy album if you consider that it's one of the only songs that it isn't about him at all. Most of the other songs on the album, The Weeknd uses first person pronouns like "I" or "me." But in "Six Feet Under," he keeps purely to describing a character or person he has in mind.

In fact, "Six Feet Under" is mostly just a character sketch. You've probably done a homework assignment like that in high school: "describe a character from a book in 500 words or more." The Weeknd does that here in "Six Feet Under," and the woman he describes is a prostitute desperate for more money.

"Six Feet Under"'s Lyrics' Meaning

"Six Feet Under" is about a prostitute or stripper who works at a club and with "clients." But she doesn't care about them or anyone else; her only goal is to make more money and to be as rich as possible. It's not a complicated song, but The Weeknd does an excellent job of drawing a somewhat sad and very sensual picture of the woman.

Verse 1: No Emotions!

In the first verse, The Weeknd introduces us to the woman (who we'll call Estelle). He tells us, "Ask around about her / She don't get emotional." She's well known for her refusal to cry or to show any emotion. He explains that she kills "off all her feelings" and that that's "why she ain't approachable"--perhaps part of her sexual intrigue.

She's also very confident in her position and knows "her pussy got a fanbase"--as a prostitute, she has a strong reputation, and men love her. These men are typically businessmen--"[s]uit and tie niggas who play roleplay." But "[w]hen it comes to money, she play no games." She'll do whatever she needs to do to get her pay.

Pre-Chorus: Good at Sex, Bad at Love

In the pre-chorus of "Six Feet Under," The Weeknd describes her doing her job and takes a step inside her thought process, highlighting the particularly sad or tragic aspects. In describing her skill at her job, The Weeknd sings, "She lick it up just like a candy / She wanna make them leave their family." And she does this because "[s]he trying to live a life so fancy."

In particular, she wants to drive in a "Bentley" car and wear Louis Vuitton clothing. To show how sad this obsession is, The Weeknd sings that she "ain't got time for lovin'" and that she's "rather die in lusting . . . in the club." Making money is more important to her than enjoying a loving relationship with someone else. Her priorities are luxury and money and thus she spends as much time as she can working.

Chorus: Make That Money!

The pre-chorus actually transitions into this stanza by ending "She rather die in the club, till she . . . ." The The Weeknd picks this back up in the chorus by singing, "Six feet under. She gon' get that f**king paper." The "paper" refers to money, and "[s]ix feet under" is a reference to the depth at which someone is buried. She's going to keep working and running after money until she's dead.

The Weeknd also sings, "You know how she get down, pop it for a check now." She dances in a club as a stripper for money--the "check." He also sings, "Not the type to f**k around, gonna turn that ass around." She's not shy, and she's fully to committed to what she's begun as far as her chosen career goes and what she wants from it.

When Future chimes in after the second iteration of the chorus and sings, "Gonna turn that ass around / Oh, murder, oh, murder," he's only emphasizing what's happening, and the line can just be taken as him saying that she's "killing it" or that he's impressed.

Verse 2: Not Six Feet Under Yet

In the second verse of "Six Feet Under," Tesfaye sings about who she is and how she's continuing to do her job. He sings that "[s]he don't depend on anybody" and "[k]now[s] just what to do with her own body." Her "hobby" is "[c]ounting all that money" that she makes.

But things get even more serious when The Weeknd reveals that not only does she not "depend on anybody," but she also "don't give a f**k about nobody." She truly is a one-woman army, completely independent and separate from entangling relationships.

When Tesfaye sings that "she got her whole crew poppin'," he's probably referring to other strippers in the club. The line "And she bend it over like got no back bone" is about some aspect of her dance or sexual performance. The reference to "a couple niggas blinging up a trap phone" could be about phone specially dedicated to purchasing drugs (though other things could be purchased that way as well). And in the end, she still "don't need nobody waiting back home, she got it." She will return home to an empty house, but based on her hard work, it'll probably not be an inexpensive house.

Bridge: Real Love

The Weeknd begins to wrap up "Six Feet Under" by focusing back on the woman's mental state. Much of the rest of the song has been about her sexual activities, but for a moment he shows us more about her mind. He sings, "Real love's hard to find / So she don't waste her time." Knowing that it can be difficult to find actual love, she decides to go for something that seems more achievable. She's not worried about others, and "[y]ou ain't gon' catch her crying / She ain't gon' lose her mind." She' in control of herself, and like The Weeknd mentioned at the beginning of the song, she's not going to let her emotions get the best of her. She's tried to shut them down so that she can focus on what she wants.

"Six Feet Under" Deeper Song Lyrics Meaning

"Six Feet Under" by The Weeknd is kind of a sad song. The woman described her certainly seems, to most of us I think, to have incorrect priorities, and that's the idea that I think The Weeknd created her character and sang about her. She's kind of a Stargirl--someone who's grappling with and wrapped up in the struggle between being a good person and being successfully rich and famous.

Unfortunately for her, she seems to be further down the wrong road than Starboy, but maybe there's still hope. In any case, I think this song is particularly interesting because it shows us a little bit about what The Weeknd thinks of someone else who's story seems to parallel his. He notices the sad parts, so maybe he notices sad aspects of his life that he's sung about in other songs. It's not confirmable necessarily (apart from an interview), but it does give us something to think about.