The Rumor Mill Never Stops
People have been asking whether The Weeknd And Kendrick Lamar Do They Have A Song Together Rumors Collabs And What Fans Want since around 2021, and honestly the answer is still basically no. There is no officially released collaborative track between them. What does exist is a thick layer of social media speculation, a few studio sightings, and some indirect connections that get misinterpreted as direct collabs. The Weeknd appeared on the Damnisation deluxe edition track prayers passing through in 2017. Kendrick was on Lonely Star, which is actually by PartyNextDoor and The Weeknd, not a Kendrick feature. That confusion alone spawned at least a dozen forum threads I've seen over the years. Neither artist has posted a full song together, dropped a snippet that both credited, or confirmed a joint project in any official capacity. There was a period in late 2023 when paparazzi photos showed Kendrick in Los Angeles around the same time The Weeknd was tracking at some high-profile studios. The music blog ecosystem ran with it immediately. Within forty-eight hours, TikTok had a hundred videos claiming a collab was "inevitable" and someone had even doctored up a fake Spotify preview link. I've seen two separate threads on this exact rumor where people were arguing for weeks before someone finally pointed out that no producer credit existed, no studio was confirmed, and the only "evidence" was a blurry photo of a parking garage.
Why the rumor keeps surviving
The core reason this persists is structural. Both artists operate in similar lanes of modern R&B and hip-hop. Their fanbases overlap heavily. Every time one drops something atmospheric and the other drops something aggressive, the commentary apparatus fills the gap with "when will they collide?" It's easier to speculate than to wait. Streaming algorithms also reward engagement, so the rumor economy benefits from uncertainty. Clicks are clicks regardless of whether anything actually materialized. There's also a technical angle most fans don't consider. Even if both artists wanted to collaborate, the logistics alone are a filter. The Weeknd's primary production circle revolves around Max Martin, Oscar Holter, and Doc McKinney. Kendrick's side is dominated by Sounwave, Terrace Martin, and his own home setup. Aligning schedules, label approvals (Republic versus PLEDGEMusic's old distribution complications, and Kendrick's own independent leanings post-UMG), and creative direction is no small thing. I've tracked enough sessions through leaked producer credits to know that a "heard in the studio" claim usually means one artist dropped off a beat and left. That's not a collab. That's a favor.
What fans actually want vs. what they're getting
When you read the comments sections, the demand isn't really for just any song together. People want something that merges The Weeknd's melodic darkness with Kendrick's lyrical density. The nearest real-world example of that vibe is probably King's Dead by JVKE, Lloyd, and others, or the HUMBLE. era production style. Neither has The Weeknd on it. The fantasy track most people are describing doesn't exist because neither camp has produced anything close to that blueprint on their recent projects. I ran into a specific problem last year when a fan made a mashup of The Weeknd's Less Than Zero vocals and Kendrick's N95 instrumental. It spread to maybe two hundred thousand listens on YouTube before being taken down for copyright. The workaround I used in similar situations was to find theacapella tracks on places like Moises.ai or split-mastering forums, layer them against a royalty-free beat, and then post it as a fan edit rather than claiming it was an official release. That avoids the takedown and keeps the discussion honest.
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The counter-intuitive part most people miss
A collaboration between these two would likely underperform relative to the hype. Both have massive catalogs where they explore similar sonic territory already. A feature would feel redundant rather than revelatory unless it came with an entirely new production direction. Kendrick has said in interviews he avoids features that don't add something structurally different to the song. The Weeknd has similarly avoided features that just repeat his existing formula. That's why you'll see more crossover with artists like Playboi Carti, Rosalía, or even non-musicians than you will with each other. Another pitfall: if they ever do drop something together, it won't arrive as a single. It'll show up as a deep cut on a longer project, and the rumor cycle will retroactively reframe every vague comment either artist made over the past five years as "teasing." This has happened with every major unconfirmed collab I've covered. The press writes the story before the song exists, and then the song never does.
What to watch instead of the rumors
Keep an eye on producer credits. If Illangelo or Doc McKinney starts listing Kendrick-related metadata on their Instagram stories, that's a real signal. If Sounwave mentions working with "Abel" or " Abel Tesfaye" in an interview, that's another. Vague references like "cool cats in the lab" mean nothing. Label press releases mentioning both names in the same sentence without a track title are usually just cross-promotional fluff for a festival appearance or award show, not a studio session. As of right now, there is no song. The rumor mill churns because the artists' styles are adjacent enough to make the speculation feel plausible. If something ever drops, it'll be because at least one of those producer credit trails lit up, not because a TikTok video reached critical mass. Until then, the conversation stays in the realm of what fans want, not what's actually happening.
