The Weeknd releases collaboration with Daft Punk 'Starboy', lyrics coincidentally reference Brad Pitt

'Legend of the fall took the year like a bandit'

Moments after announcing new album Starboy, The Weeknd - AKA Abel Tesfaye - released the titular track, featuring Daft Punk.

The song marks the French duo’s first collaboration since “Gust of Wind” on Pharrell’s album G I R L, the production sounding more Discovery than Random Access Memories.

During the chorus, The Weeknd croons "Look what you've done / I'm a motherfucking starboy,” while a vocoder voice echoes “ah ah” in-between the lines.

Notably, in the third verse of the song, the lyrics reference Brad Pitt: "Let a n***a Brad Pitt / Legend of the fall took the year like a bandit."

While intended as a reference to Pitt's incredible 1994 - the year he starred in both The Legends of The Fall, Interview with the Vampire, and was nomitnated for a Golden Globe - the timing of the release could not be better as Pitt and wife Angelina Jolie announced their divorce just two days earlier. Whether coincidence or rush release remains to be seen.

So far, little information has been made available about the album; thanks to the iTunes preorder, we know it will run for 18 tracks and features the track “False Alarm”.

Starboy is The Weeknd’s third studio album, following Beauty Behind the Madness and Kissland. The singer has also released three mixtape - House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence - culminating in the compilation album Trilogy.

Earlier this year, The Weeknd featured on Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo track “FML”, Beyoncé’s “6 Inch” from Lemonade, and “Low Life” from Future’s Evol.