On “FEEL.,” from Kendrick Lamar’s landmark album DAMN., he was weary and overwhelmed as he distilled all of his burdens and doubts: “I feel like the whole world want me to pray for ‘em/But who the fuck prayin’ for me?” On “Pray for Me,” from the Black Panther soundtrack he curated, he teams up with the Weeknd to seek a more definitive answer, this time on behalf of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Who gon’ pray for me?/Take my pain for me?/Save my soul for me?/Cause I’m alone, you see,” the singer croons. The soundtrack’s third single, produced by Sounwave, CuBeatz, Cardo, and Matt Schaeffer, is pop-rap as narrative device: It’s just specific enough for roleplaying and more than generic enough to be inessential. Where Jay Rock’s “King’s Dead” was ambitious and, at times, flat-out audacious, “Pray for Me” is risk-averse and bland, just another tool used to outline the mise-en-scène for Wakanda and its heroes.

“Pray for Me” is the Disneyfication of Lamar, a smoothing-over of his jagged edges and dulling of his insights. He obviously cedes narrative control to serve the larger plot of a man fighting crime in a panther suit. But the effectiveness of his writing lies in its tensions, its audacity and its empathy, and that’s all lost in the transfer. What you get under such circumstances is mechanical storyboarding: “Who need a hero?/You need a hero, look in the mirror, there go your hero/Who on the front lines at Ground Zero?” he raps. His verse offers up all of the superhero clichés—individual against the world, triumph over adversity, sacrifice for the greater good. The Weeknd is even less convincing in his conflicted leading-man turn: “Tell me who’s gon’ save me from myself/When this life is all I know/Tell me who’s gon’ save me from this hell,” he sings joylessly.

“Pray for Me” is fine if forgettable, a song with an obvious purpose and short shelf life. It doesn’t have much to offer without context. The middle-of-the-road results will likely prove inconsequential for a projected box office behemoth like Black Panther, but for listeners, it’s a game of diminishing returns.