This track ticks all the boxes and he was rewarded for doing so. This song is still the most successful single from The Weekend's (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) album After Hours.
When directly asked about the reasoning for his song he said the following
'Blinding Lights' [is about] how you want to see someone at night, and you’re intoxicated, and you’re driving to this person and you’re just blinded by streetlights.
But nothing could stop you from trying to go see that person, because you’re so lonely. I don’t want to ever promote drunk driving, but that’s what the dark undertone is.
A throwback sound and a voice that cuts through any beats it's paired with. His voice is hard not to compare to Michael Jackson at points. The visuals certainly aid in this respect.
The main riff is hard to forget with a driving beat. The fact the video contains a large portion of actual driving of a Mercedes-AMG GT only further hammers home the idea of motion and movement in space. This shoot looks like a lot of fun blasting through the LA streets at 4AM putting this car through its paces.
What's old is new again as with most things in music. Nothing ever goes away and is only dormant while waiting for it to be thrust back out into the light once more. An apt comparison giving the nature of the track title but not intended as such based on the lyrics themselves.
There's a reason why there are so many remixes spanning multiple genres. I've yet to hear a poor one.