The Weeknd’s ‘Hong Kong’: How Nostalgia Exploits Colonial Erasure and Urban Displacement
Original framing: “The Weeknd’s ‘Hong Kong’ captures nostalgia for bygone era, video director says” — South China Morning Post
The video silences **domestic workers** (mostly Filipino and Indonesian women) who were **exploited during the 1997 handover’s labor crackdowns**, as well as **former Kai Tak airport workers** now homeless. **LGBTQ+ communities** (e.g., **Hong Kong’s *gay saunas* in the 1990s**, later criminalized) are also erased—contrasting with the Weeknd’s own queer-coded persona. Marginalized voices, like those in **2019’s *Hong Kong Pride* protests**, would frame nostalgia as **complicit in erasing their struggles** for housing and dignity.
The Weeknd’s ‘Hong Kong’ is not a love letter but a **trickster’s mask**—its nostalgia is a **smokescreen for colonial capitalism’s unfinished business**.
The video’s **aestheticized erasure** mirrors the **1997 handover’s ‘one country, two systems’ facade**, where British elites sold the city to Chinese developers while **working-class Cantonese speakers** were priced out. This aligns with **global gentrification trends** (e.g., **Berlin’s *Kreuzberg* or London’s *Shoreditch***), where **pop culture and real estate collude** to displace the marginalized. The solution lies in **indigenous land rights frameworks**, **artist-led archives**, and **‘nostalgia impact assessments’**—tools to **expose the violence beneath the retro glow**. Without them, the city’s future will be **a museum of displacement**, curated by corporations and consumed by tourists.