The “After Hours” trilogy-  “After Hours,” “Dawn FM” and now “Hurry Up Tomorrow” say goodbye to the Weeknd and welcome Abel Tesfaye. 

The Weeknd has been on a hot streak of releasing acclaimed albums from “After Hours” in 2020 which gave us songs like “Save Your Tears,” “In Your Eyes” and “Blinding Lights,” among others. The latter song took on a world of its own as it reached, as it is now the most streamed song on Spotify with 4 billion streams. After Hours chronicles the pain Tesfaye goes through after a failed relationship, where we hear as he descends into a mental breakdown as he tries to grasp his emotions from loneliness, regret and the feeling of wanting to escape and coming back full circle to loneliness. 

“Dawn FM” in 2022 delivered hits like “Less Than Zero,” “Gasoline” and “Sacrifice,” along with several more. This time, “Dawn FM” foreshadows what would come true with “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” as fans of The Weeknd agree that one of the most common interpretations is that this album marks the death of The Weeknd or, at least, that it is near. This is reinforced by the album’s concept, which centers on being in purgatory. As The Weeknd describes it, “I always imagined, it would be like being stuck in traffic,” with a radio station playing in the car on its way to the gates of heaven. 

Now, with the latest album released on Jan. 31, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” is the last of the “After Hours” trilogy and the last album of The Weeknd. This decision and album came to be after The Weeknd’s final tour date on Sept. 3, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, where he lost his voice…in front of 80,000 fans. 

Everything seemed to be normal, exactly like the previous tour dates, until the 45-second mark, when he lost his voice after shouting “Hey, Los Angeles!” This led to his voice cracking, followed by losing it for the rest of the night. It marked the first time he couldn’t rely on his most powerful arsenal at his disposal- his voice. 

That’s not to say that he hasn’t faced challenges when he has been on stage pouring his heart out. He’s fought through high fevers, performing on the verge of breakups and through a death in the family, but never once lost his voice. Tesfaye was defeated on the world stage, as it was clear he couldn’t continue the concert. He issued refunds and promised he would reschedule the date. Exhaustion, stress and the pandemic pushed this tour to a later date, which is now scheduled to conclude sometime later this year. 

With 22 songs, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” includes elements from The Weeknd’s beginnings seen in “House Of Balloons” with R&B and his signature Pop as seen in “After Hours.” This album also includes an array of features from voices across the music world: Anitta, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Future, Florence + The Machine and Lana Del Rey. 

It also includes a standout detail that was seen in “Dawn FM:” the fade-in and fade-out effect in each song, which gave it a special feeling and gave each song an aura of its own. You will notice this, especially on the album when you play “Niagara Falls” as its closing notes and melody perfectly segue the way to “Take Me Back To LA.” 

The first track on the song “Wake Me Up” includes the first feature song as Justice joins The Weeknd. As the slow funky build-up begins the album, it feels like seeing the first scene of a movie. It’s a song that introduces two genres found throughout the album: funk and pop.

The Weeknd isn’t afraid to venture into new genres, as proven on “São Paulo,” the fourth song on the album, featuring Brazilian singer Anitta, which heavily echoes Brazilian rhymes and funk.  

“Baptized In Fear,” the sixth song on the album, features powerful lyrics: “I’ve been baptized in fear, my dear, I’ve been the chief of sin, washing my soul within.” The verses are about channeling one’s guilt and feeling ashamed of their mistakes and choices, while the chorus states a different idea “Voices will tell me that I should carry on, Voices will tell me that I should carry on,” reminding us that it’s ok to let go of the past, no matter the cost.

“Open Hearts,” the seventh song, builds on the themes of the previous song of carrying on and moving on. It’s about a new love coming into your life and how haunting the idea of being vulnerable is by opening your heart….once again. The message is simple: falling in love will always be scary. This is one of few songs in this album that could have easily been on “After Hours.” 

The standout song, and one that many agree to be the highlight of “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” is track fifteen, “Take Me Back To LA.” Having been teased back in 2020 during an instagram live, fans have been asking for this song since then, hoping it would be released on Dawn FM, but forced to wait three years after the latter album was released. It was worth the wait. 

This song explores the longing and isolation of Abel’s relationship with Los Angeles, the city where he paid the price for fame. With lyrics evoking the feeling of isolation after being at forefront of fame, “Take me back to a time, when my blood never tasted like wine” and “My love could fill a sea, but now I can’t even feel the breeze,” alongside a synth riff at the background, is one that The Weeknd fans will never forget. 

A strong duet is formed on track sixteen, as Lana Del Rey and The Weeknd paint a picture of two lovers unwilling to let go despite describing a world which is in chaos with “The Abyss.” The Twenty two track LP closes with a track with the titular name of the album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” It is melancholic and shows The Weeknd accepting his end, as he knows what he wants next– death and peace in heaven. As the closing lyrics of the song, “I want heaven when I die. I wanna change. I want the pain no more, no more, no more.” This closes the chapter of The Weeknd as the song transitions into his first song on his first album: “High For This” on “House of Balloons.”

To continue the momentum of his new LP, The Weeknd made a surprise performance at the 67th annual Grammy awards after a four year boycott from the grammys, as he performed “Cry For Me” and “Timeless.” As the final chapter of The Weeknd is released, fans can’t wait as to how the chapter of Abel Tesfayo will be written.