Hurry Up Tomorrow, the forthcoming studio album from the Weeknd, will mark the end of his latest musical trilogy. The release date for the record has yet to be revealed, but it will follow 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM as a grand creative conclusion. The musician announced the album title alongside a lengthy, high-drama statement previewing the themes of the upcoming release.
“Yesterday was fourteen years ago… We held our breath, falling into a shimmering sea in the after hours of the night… Attempted to cleanse the wounds with melodies and lights, a bulletproof bandage to shield what lies beneath,” the scrolling text shared on Instagram reads. “In a place where the seasons never changed, where time ceased to exist. But therein lays the problem. Today has felt like an endless spin, I keep distorting the truth, immune to the dizziness, numb to the nausea. What lies beneath — screams in silence.”
The statement references After Hours, which housed the history-making single “Blinding Lights.” Throughout that album era, the Weeknd wore the same red suit throughout the majority of the imagery surrounding his releases. With each passing performance and video, the character he was playing became increasingly bloodied and bruised. Emotional confusion and a quest for escapism colored the contents of the album, which led into the purgatorial concepts of Dawn FM.
“I look in the mirror and feel both old and new, stuck in limbo and unable to move. I still haven’t faced myself,” the Weeknd’s statement continued. Dawn FM leaned heavily into synth-pop and dance music as the musician captured the experience of being guided through the transition from life to death and whatever comes after. Jim Carrey, of course, was the narrator of this process.
The Weeknd added: “More songs could help, but what do I have left to say? Woe is me in my gilded cage, right? The very thing that once made me invincible failed me on the world stage. A new trauma surfaced, opening floodgates. A new path awaits. When today ends, I’ll discover who I am.”
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Teasers for Hurry Up Tomorrow first arrived in July, when the Weeknd released a trailer previewing two unreleased songs. Among them was a demo that fans have been referring to as “Hold Your Heart,” which was initially created during sessions for After Hours but didn’t make it onto the album. The musician previewed the song on Instagram Live in March 2020.
Another teaser titled “Unprepared Certainty…” arrived in August. “All I have is my legacy/I’ve been losing my memory/No afterlife, no other side/I’m all alone when it fades to black,” the Weeknd croons in the clip. He has previously stated that his upcoming record will mark his final release under the moniker of the Weeknd.
