The Weeknd brought his After Hours Til Dawn Tour to Hong Kong for four shows at Kai Tak Stadium on Oct. 24, 25, 30 and 31. On opening night, he debuted a song named for the city, built around a voice many in the audience already knew. “Hong Kong (feat. 王菲季候風)” samples both the music and Faye Wong’s original Cantonese vocals from her 1993 Cantopop ballad “Monsoon” (“季候風”). Universal Music Canada

By the third show, actress Carina Lau was singing along. Lau attended the Oct. 30 concert with her husband, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and shared a clip on Instagram Stories of herself joining Wong’s Cantonese refrain from a private box as The Weeknd performed “Hong Kong.” Leung starred alongside Wong in Wong Kar-wai’s 1994 film “Chungking Express,” one of the films that connects the single to Hong Kong’s cinema. Lau and Leung had hosted The Weeknd for a private dinner in Hong Kong earlier that month, according to the Hong Kong Economic Times.

Video director Evan Larsen told the South China Morning Post that The Weeknd wanted both the song and the video to be “a full-on love letter to the city.” Larsen said the video came together in about a week and evoked Hong Kong in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some viewers told him the images brought them to tears. The single’s cover has its own connection to that period. The photograph comes from the personal collection of Christopher Doyle, the cinematographer on “Chungking Express.” South China Morning Post

Stereogum’s Tom Breihan called “Hong Kong” “a grand, dramatic ballad,” while The FADER heard a tribute to the sounds and images of Hong Kong pop and cinema. The Weeknd’s English verses describe a romance cut short. Wong’s refrain gives that separation the force of a seasonal wind. It’s the part of the song that turns a private story of departure into something listeners like Lau could sing back.

Universal Music announced the single on Oct. 31 for listeners in East and Southeast Asia. The HK HUB reported that “Hong Kong” reached No. 1 on Apple Music’s Hong Kong songs chart by Nov. 2. Wong’s original had already reached No. 3 on Apple Music’s China chart on Oct. 28, four days after the live debut, according to Universal Music.

The Hong Kong shows came near the end of the tour, which was scheduled to wrap with two nights in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 4 and 5. At Kai Tak, one of the most personal moments came from the audience. The Weeknd had introduced “Hong Kong” only six days earlier, but when Wong’s voice came in on Oct. 30, Lau already knew the words. HK01