Much like most of The Weeknd's discography, "Earned It" is about love, sex, and drugs...which makes sense given it was written for Fifty Shades of Grey.
According to Genius, lyrics to the song play as lead character Anastasia pleases Christian's desires in the bedroom and begins her journey to reap all the benefits of his rich and powerful lifestyle. The Weeknd sings, "Cause girl, you're perfect/You're always worth it/And you deserve it/The way you work it/'Cause girl, you earned it." Steamy? Right. Despite its BDSM meaning, "Earned It" still stands as The Weeknd's only No. 1 Adult R&B Airplay single. The Weeknd told TIME about the tune's success, "I was arousing people's curiosity. I think the game is changing with songs like 'Earned It' as opposed to it changing me because 'Earned It' was very important. It was slow, it was sexy and it was smooth—all traits in my music."
The hot single earned (pun intended) the artist an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song in 2016. Unfortunately for the singer, the sultry song wasn't enough to take home the Academy Award, losing out to "Writing's on the Wall" from James Bond movie Spectre. But who can truly defeat James Bond?
