The Weeknd tears up while singing for Selena Gomez

We're not crying, you're crying!

LOS ANGELES:

The Weeknd brought a raw emotional intimacy as he headlined the first night of the Coachella festival, where electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre lit up the California desert sky with lasers and calls to safeguard the environment.

Packing 125,000 fashionably - or at least scantily - dressed fans onto the sun-baked site in Indio, Coachella has become the titan of music festivals and a global brand with a who's who of acts who play back-to-back weekends with identical lineups.

Just two weeks after his surprise release of the six-track My Dear Melancholy, which became the shortest work to top the US albums chart in nearly a decade, The Weeknd delivered a well-received set of hits and new material.


My Dear Melancholy, - the comma deliberate, as if part of a confessional letter - shows a newfound introspection on the part of the 28-year-old R&B sensation, moving beyond the bravado of some of his early hits.

Clasping the microphone before the packed main stage audience, The Weeknd gently cried as he closed his new song Call Out My Name to an unadorned guitar, with some fans watching agape as the lights went down.

PHOTO: PEOPLE

The song - which begins with We found each other / I helped you out of a broken place - has raised speculation that the Canadian singer is reflecting on his short-lived romance with pop star Selena Gomez, with whom he was spotted cuddling a year ago when they attended Coachella as fans.

And fans are heartbroken!

The Weeknd shed some tears at Coachella, I think I did too

— Eric Cruz (@Eric_STI) April 14, 2018

https://twitter.com/vvsxo/status/985081315967070208

https://twitter.com/AmazingTaIents/status/985335681877553152

Surprise guests are a hallmark of Coachella. Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar - who headlined the festival last year - made two appearances on Friday, joining both singer SZA and fellow rapper Vince Staples.

Another major figure in rap - Tyler, the Creator - joined Kali Uchis, the Colombian-born singer who put on a well-received set of both English and Spanish pop.