Madonna, the Weeknd & Playboi Carti Live the Lush Life in ‘Popular’ Video

Madonna, the Weeknd and Playboi Carti live the lush life in the new video for their collaboration “Popular.” The Cliqua-directed clip opens with a close-up for Madonna’s glittering grill, as she whispers, “I’ve seen the devil/ Down Sunset/ In every place/ In every face,” while the camera cuts to a shot of a lush hillside and the Weeknd (who now goes by his birth name, Abel Tesfaye) sings from inside a massive, art-dripping gilded mansion.

After flashing to Carti — wearing two Band-Aids on his cheeks a la rapper Nelly — spilling his red Solo cup drink near a luxury SUV, the scene cuts back to Madonna in a penthouse apartment, lolling on a couch and pointing the camera with a cane. The trio inhabit their own luxe spaces, but never intersect in the visual shot in New York and Atlanta.

The song was originally released last June as part of the roll-out of music from Tesfaye’s ill-received HBO music drama The Idol.

The video’s debut came after Madonna posted a one-minute clip on Wednesday (Feb. 21) from a visual she shot for a Brazilian bank in which the pop icon asserts that her royal music status is not what you think. “The call me the Queen of Pop,” the singer says as she walks up the stairs of an ornate mansion in a flowing black coat, thigh-high leather boots and a black mini-dress and bustier combo. “I know it’s a compliment, but the monarchy is in the past.”

The 65-year-old singer then asserts, “I am not. I have no age. I’m all ages. It’s not about who I am, it’s about how many I am. Count my achievements, not the number of years I have lived on this planet.” Meanwhile, clips of some of her most iconic videos play over a symphonic, languorous version of her 1990 classic “Vogue.”

“I am always reinventing myself,” she says, staring directly into camera, her neck flooded with a cascade of pearls — some of which she later spits out of her mouth — while images of her many reboots and classic video looks flicker by. “So that I can keep being myself. I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around. I have seen many stars appear and disappear, like shooting stars. But my light will never fade.”

Check out the “Popular” video and the Itau Unibanco promo clip below.