The Weeknd, Hurry Up Tomorrow
Label: Republic
Producers: The Weeknd, Cirkut, Matt Cohn, DaHeala, Mike Dean, Teddy Fantum, Oscar Holter, ILYA, Johnny Jewel, Peter Lee Johnson, Justice, Max Martin, Metro Boomin, Giorgio Moroder, Ojivolta, OPN, Tommy Parker, Just Da 1, Prince85, Tomy Rush, Nathan Salon, TBHits, Thabo, Twisco, Travis Scott, Pharrell Williams
The sixth studio album from The Weeknd arrives with a considerable wave of anticipation, fanfare, and heightened implications, and that’s not just because of the elusive levels of superstardom that singer Abel Tesfaye has achieved via his alter-ego over the past decade, or for the simple reason that it’s the first bona fide pop blockbuster to see release in 2025. In addition to serving as the soundtrack to a forthcoming summer film release and as the final entry in a trilogy that included 2020’s pandemic phenom, After Hours, and the 2022 sequel Dawn FM, Tomorrow has also been heavily hinted by Tesfaye himself as his final project under The Weeknd umbrella. While the legitimacy behind that premonition remains to be seen, especially in an era were final album proclamations come and go with greater frequency than a KISS or Cher farewell tour, there is no denying that this record takes the cinematic pageantry and haunting tones of finality of this trilogy’s two previous installments to their most dramatic heights yet. Tesfaye has been transparent about much of the album’s influence being gleaned from the onslaught of doubts and demons that tormented him in the wake of the problematic finale to his 2022 stadium tour, where he lost his voice during a performance at SoFi Stadium.
The bruises from that experience are clearly referenced in album interludes like “I Can’t Fucking Sing” and “Opening Night”, but they contribute even more prolifically on epic tracks like opener “Wake Me Up”, “Baptized in Fear”, “Take Me Back to LA”, and the Future collaboration, “Enjoy the Show”. These are moments where you can feel the palpable desperation and despair that Tesfaye seems to feel trapped within as permanent side effects of his fame. The moody nature of his music has always been one of its definitive pillars, but there’s an elevated sense of dooming sadness imbuing these moments, and deeply informing the overall arc of the record, both thematically and emotionally. His soulful, tear-stained vocals are as emotively powerful as ever before, and with his army of production collaborators, he crafts another entrancing arsenal of sounds. This incorporates everything from his R&B, synth-pop, and Hip-Hop signatures, to a more aggressive exploration of trap beats, the increasing presence of guests like Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Anitta, and Lana Del Rey, and even elements of jazz and classic soul on the dreamy sequences of “Given Up on Me”.
All of this stylistic variety helps keep the nearly 90-minute run-time of the record feel more palatable, and further lends the project a truly discernible cinematic quality that certainly has potential to translate naturally to the big-screen, depending on the execution of the partnering film. As that arc reaches its final act, there are subtle undertones of hope and perseverance peeking through all of the darkness, particularly on moments like “Give Me Mercy” (which flat-out reminds us of how rewarding it is to just listen to The Weeknd sing, his pure pipes being so peerlessly crystalline) or “The Abyss”, the chilling duet with Del Rey (are there two current pop enigmas more destined to sing together?). Nevertheless, there’s never truly a reprieve from the fatalistically lonely sense of impending doom that anchors the entire record; it’s merely accompanied by the growing acceptance of a chapter closing.
By the time Tesfaye delivers the story’s finale on the inspired closing title track, there’s a comforting sense that he yearns for the next day’s arrival, not only out of the necessity to escape the pain of his past, but in anticipation for the rejuvenation and rebirth that the future offers, if not all-out promises. Whatever the next chapter holds for Abel Tesfaye as both an artist and a human remains to be seen, and only time will tell what form his future will taken on musically. But if this truly is the swan song of The Weeknd, its an artistically vibrant and satisfying one, and both Tesfaye and his fanbase can rest assured that this body of work has secured a legacy as one of the most dazzling arcs in the annals of modern pop music.
Track Listing:
- “Wake Me Up” with Justice (Abel Tesfaye, Gaspard Auge, Xavier de Rosnay, Michael Dean, John Padgett, Rod Temperton, Ahmand Balshe, Vincent Taurelle)
- “Cry For Me” (Tesfaye, Dean, Leland Wayne, Bashe, Karen Patterson, Curtis Williams)
- “I Can’t Fucking Sing” (Tesfaye, Daniel Lopatin, Nathan Salon)
- “Sao Paulo” with Anitta (Tesfaye, Larissa Machado, Tatiana Lourenco, Dean Sean, Solymar Washington, Vaz Agustinhon dos Santos, Andrea Viegas, Everton de Araujo, Flavio de Almeida, Marcelo Nei Leal)
- “Until We’re Skin & Bones” (Tesfaye, Lopatin, Salon)
- “Baptized in Fear” (Tesfaye, Lopatin, Salon)
- “Open Hearts” (Tesfaye, Max Martin, Oscar Holter)
- “Opening Night” (Tesfaye, Dean, Lopatin, Patrick Baker)
- “Reflections Laughing” featuring Travis Scott & Florence and the Machine (Tesfaye, Jacques Webster II, Dean)
- “Enjoy the Show” with Future (Tesfaye, Nayvadius Wilburn, Dean, Josh Lloyd-Watson, Lydia Kitto)
- “Given Up On Me” (Tesfaye, Wilburn, Dean, Lopatin, Wayne, Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington, James McCants)
- “I Can’t Wait To Get There” (Tesfaye, Steven Franks, Dean, Thomas Brown, Thomas Lumpkins, Peter Lee Johnson)
- “Timeless” with Playboi Carti (Tesfae, Jordan Carter, Pharrell Williams, Mark Williams, Raul Cubina, Dean, Jarrod Morgan, Kobe Hood, Tariq Sharrieff, Devon Chisolm)
- “Niagara Falls” (Tesfaye, Dean, Kenneth Edmonds)
- “Take Me Back to LA” (Tesfaye, Dean, Jason Quenneville)
- “Big Sleep” with Giorgio Moroder (Tesfaye, Giorgio Moroder, Dean, Lopatin, Prince85, Salon)
- “Give Me Mercy” (Tesfaye, Martin, Holter, Lopatin)
- “Drive” (Tesfaye, Lopatin, Matt Cohn)
- “The Abyss” featuring Lana Del Rey (Tesfaye, Elizabeth Grant, Dean, Patrick Greenaway)
- “Red Terror” (Tesfaye, Lopatin)
- “Without a Warning” (Tesfaye, Thabo Publicover, Tewodros Fantu, Lopatin, Holter, Darryl Howard, Isaac Brown)
- “Hurry Up Tomorrow” (Tesfaye)
The 706 
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