After years of waiting, The Weeknd released his highly anticipated “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” which would conclude his career using the stage name “The Weeknd,” but he will still be releasing music from time to time under his actual name Abel Tesfaye. This album is the final installment of his new trilogy, which includes his previous albums “After Hours,” and “Dawn FM.”
In September of 2024, he held a concert in São Paulo that would be considered a listening party to help promote his brand new album. A few weeks after, he released the lead single “Timeless,” which featured Playboi Carti and a bonus stand alone single “Dancing In The Flames.” A month later on Halloween, he would release “São Paulo,” with Brazilian artist Anitta, which would serve as the third and final single before the album came out.
By the end of November, he announced that the album would be released on January 24th, but it was delayed to January 31st due to the LA wildfires.
In December 2024, many billboards would start appearing all around big cities that said “The End Is Near,” with some billboards having different fonts and colors referencing his previous albums. Starting on January 19, 2025, he would start posting a daily countdown on X, with the final week having special visualizers posted.
As a long time fan, (I’ve been listening to him since 2016) I came into this album with very high expectations. I expected a new sort of experimental sound, and some songs that would sound like a remastered version of his previous work, and this album being more personal to make a perfect ending for “The Weeknd” character.
During my first listen of this album, I was so amazed. This album did not disappoint at all, it was one of the greatest first listens I’ve had for quite a while. The transitions between the tracks felt so smooth and flawless, and the hidden surprise features on some of the songs were the cherry on top.
From top to bottom the album is amazing, it starts off with “Wake Me Up,” which plays as a two part song. The first half is much darker with lyrics that resemble death, while the second half of this track is much more upbeat and took massive inspiration from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” since you can hear the iconic instrumental during this half of the song.
In the middle of the album, songs “Niagara Falls,” and “Take Me Back To LA,” truly stand out. “Niagara Falls,” is a smooth R&B song where he talks about his previous relationship with someone and how he used to give her comfort. Towards the end of this song the instrumental switches to a similar instrumental of “Take Me Back To LA.” TMBTLA was a highly anticipated snippet others and I were waiting for. Originally this song was speculated to be released on the deluxe version of “After Hours,” but never got released. This track talks about reminiscing about past events, wanting to go back and realizing that he hates being alone. This song has more of a melancholy tone, making it one of my favorites from this whole album.
Towards the end of the album, there’s a collaboration with Lana Del Rey titled “The Abyss.” In this song he expresses how he doesn’t want his love for his partner to end. During his part of the song we can hear background vocals by Lana, towards the end of the song she delivers astonishing vocals which makes it a perfect outro for the song.
The final track, “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” concludes this album perfectly. He talks about how he sees his character dying, and he sees heaven coming once he dies. “I’m done with the lies,” refers to him saying that he’s done with the lies his persona has brought. The end of the song has a perfect full circle moment coming to a close, with the song perfectly transitioning to the first song of his first mixtape titled “High For This,” basically leaving The Weeknd in a never ending loop from start to finish.
Overall, this album is the perfect send off to The Weeknd’s character and discography. I would give this album a strong 9.7/10. The whole concept, performance, production and features are perfect. The only negative of the album is the length, there’s times when the album feels a bit long, but apart from that this album is almost perfect, and I would rank it as his third best album behind “Dawn FM,” and “After Hours.”
