New The Idol track from The Weeknd puts Madonna on to Playboi Carti

Following a lengthy and often ludicrous press cycle that included a Cannes premiere last month, The Idol hits HBO this Sunday, meaning there are only two days left to build the show’s already-supersized intrigue before the popular vote rolls in. Naturally, Abel Tesfaye a.k.a. The Weeknd has that covered—today, The Idol co-creator released a new single from the series entitled “Popular,” oddly merging the vocal talents of Madonna and Playboi Carti into a crooning slow jam about the perils of popularity.

Britney Spears’ influence on The Idol’s plotline—in short, a struggling pop star (Lily-Rose Depp) attempting a comeback falls into an obsessive relationship with a charismatic party maven/cult leader (Tesfaye)—has always been clear. That makes the laid-back, early-aughts style beat—produced by Tesfaye, Mike Dean, and Metro Boomin—even savvier. After Madonna opens the song whispering: “I’ve seen the devil down Sunset… in every place… in every face,” the track falls into a rhythm, heavy on the cowbell emulation and low on synths, a notable leap from The Weeknd’s most recent pure pop fare.

Although a limited Playboi Carti run (that sounds more like a sample than a true feature) is an admittedly serious earworm, on the whole, this song is clearly more interested in going platinum in The Idol’s universe than standing on its own; it’s more a plot device than a “Blinding Lights.” That feeling is only emphasized by the series’ accompanying music video, which leans into blending The Idol’s on and offscreen fanfare by setting a song all about a troubled it-girl against footage of the real Depp and Tesfaye partying in their Cannes best.

Will The Idol ever be exciting, or even jarring, enough to live up to the discourse and mystery buzzing around it? Probably not (and that’s not even meant to be a dig: as Kendall Roy would put it, The Idol has laced itself into big, big shoes). Especially given the behind-the-scenes allegations that have dogged the big-budget series since Rolling Stone published an investigation into filming in March, the decision to roll out the series by capitalizing on the real-life drama behind it isn’t exactly thinly veiled. After all, blending reality and fiction has worked for the series before: Tesfaye’s Twitter remains proof.