Hurry Up Tomorrow is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer The Weeknd. It was released by XO and Republic Records on January 31, 2025. The album has so far been supported by two singles: "Timeless" (featuring Playboi Carti), and "São Paulo" (featuring Anitta).
The record is the third in the new trilogy (previous chapters being After Hours and Dawn FM), and serves as the final studio album under "The Weeknd" name/persona (it is currently unspecified which).[1] Its concept and aesthetic allude to afterlife and rebirth.
Background[]
Tesfaye first teased fans are "experiencing a new trilogy" in a now-deleted Tweet shortly after the release of Dawn FM.[2] Through his ongoing After Hours Til Dawn Stadium Tour, Abel began works on the new record, and teased some of the new tracks while performing live (e.g. "Take Me Back to LA"). According to Tesfaye, most of the album was actually finished by September 3, 2022, the day during which he lost his voice at one of the shows from exhaustion and stress. This moment affected Abel to the point of him going back to the drawing board, as it gave him a new inspiration.[3]
In a May 8, 2023 interview with Variety, Tesfaye revealed he'd abandon "The Weeknd" stage name after the next record would be out, as he'd like to close this chapter for good.[4]
| “ | I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn. | ” |
–Abel Tesfaye, "The Weeknd Shares Plan to Retire Stage Name: ‘I Still Want to Kill the Weeknd’" | ||
A couple months later during his show in Warsaw, Tesfaye announced his "final feature" of his career as The Weeknd to be "Another One of Me", released as a collaboration with Diddy, 21 Savage and French Montana.[5]
On July 18, 2024 The Weeknd announced a one-night-only concert in São Paulo, Brazil. Shortly after, he began posting animated videos featuring new tracks from the album.[6][7][8][9] On September 4, Tesfaye revealed the album title to be Hurry Up Tomorrow through his Instagram.
| “ | 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. 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. I LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND FEEL BOTH OLD AND NEW, STUCK IN LIMBO AND UNABLE TO MOVE. I STILL HAVEN'T FACED MYSELF. MORE SONGS COULD HELP, BUT WHAT DO I HAVE 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. HURRY UP TOMORROW. |
” |
–The Weeknd, Instagram[10] | ||
The Weeknd during the São Paulo show (September 7, 2024)
On September 7, during the show in São Paulo, Tesfaye performed songs solely from the new trilogy, including new tracks: "The Crowd", "Wake Me Up", "Dancing in the Flames", "São Paulo" (featuring Anitta), "Timeless" (with Playboi Carti), "Take Me Back to LA", "Regular", "Runaway" and cover of Peter Ivers' "In Heaven". On September 10, a new ad for Apple's iPhone 16 Pro was released, showcasing the then-upcoming music video for "Dancing in the Flames", and shortly after the track was announced to be released on September 13 as the lead single from Hurry Up Tomorrow. Two weeks later, on September 25 "Timeless" was announced to be released on the following friday.
During a October 22 show of After Hours Til Dawn, Abel debuted the studio recording of a new song, "Open Hearts". 8 days later, "São Paulo" was released as the third single. On November 4, the Hurry Up Tomorrow film directed by Trey Edward Shults was announced to be distributed by Lionsgate, and accompany the album's release.[11]
Apple Immersive's "The Weeknd: Open Hearts"
On November 15, an Apple Vision Pro exclusive short film for "Open Hearts" was released (referred to as an "immersive music experience"). A few days later, Tesfaye posted an Instagram story with Elton John's song "January" from The Big Picture album. The Weeknd announced the January 24 release date and a new one-night-only concert at Rose Bowl Stadium, California on November 27, 2024.[12] Later, on January 13, due to wildfires in California, the show got cancelled with the album being delayed to January 31.[13] Meanwhile other variants also got announced, one of which was available through a new website, hurryuptomorrow.club, and included two bonus tracks (later revealed to be "Runaway" and "Society").
A while before the record's release, all Instagram posts referencing "Dancing in the Flames" were removed from Tesfaye's Instagram. On January 31, as the album released, the single, as well as "In Heaven", were missing from the tracklist. The former is speculated to have been removed due to the inconvenient timing of events. Titles to some of the previously introduced songs were changed as well (e.g. "The Crowd" to "Without a Warning", and "Regular" into "The Abyss"), and the features were initially hidden as to not ruin the surprise for fans. On February 5, the "Pharrell Williams" Edition of Hurry Up Tomorrow was released with a third bonus track, "Closing Night".
Promotion[]
Live performances[]
On September 21, 2024 The Weeknd performed at the iHeart Radio Music Festival, debuting "Dancing in the Flames" and "São Paulo" live in US. On January 31, 2025 Tesfaye performed "Open Hearts" at Jimmy Kimmel Live!. On February 2, Tesfaye made his grand return to the Grammy Awards stage, performing "Cry for Me" and "Timeless" with Playboi Carti.
Artwork[]
The standard Hurry Up Tomorrow artwork is a shot taken straight out of the upcoming movie of the same name. It features Tesfaye seemingly screaming in pain, with the title and tracklist around him, similarly to the mixtapes' covers.
The "First Pressing" cover once again presents Tesfaye's character from the Hurry Up Tomorrow film. According to its official trailer, here he stares straight into the mirror teared up.[14]
Each of the other alternate editions also feature additional covers, each going for their own artistic approach, some of which is handdrawn.
Singles[]
Spotify[]
Track listing[]
| Standard | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "Wake Me Up (feat. Justice)" | 5:08 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Cry for Me" | 3:44 | ||||||||
| 3. | "I Can't Fucking Sing" | 0:12 | ||||||||
| 4. | "São Paulo (with Anitta)" | 5:01 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Until We're Skin & Bones" | 0:22 | ||||||||
| 6. | "Baptized In Fear" | 3:52 | ||||||||
| 7. | "Open Hearts" | 3:54 | ||||||||
| 8. | "Opening Night" | 1:36 | ||||||||
| 9. | "Reflections Laughing (feat. Travis Scott, Florence + the Machine & Chxrry22)" | 4:51 | ||||||||
| 10. | "Enjoy the Show (feat. Future)" | 5:01 | ||||||||
| 11. | "Given Up on Me (feat. Future)" | 5:54 | ||||||||
| 12. | "I Can't Wait to Get There" | 3:08 | ||||||||
| 13. | "Timeless (with Playboi Carti)" | 4:16 | ||||||||
| 14. | "Niagara Falls" | 4:37 | ||||||||
| 15. | "Take Me Back to LA" | 4:13 | ||||||||
| 16. | "Big Sleep (feat. Giorgio Moroder)" | 3:45 | ||||||||
| 17. | "Give Me Mercy" | 3:36 | ||||||||
| 18. | "Drive" | 3:08 | ||||||||
| 19. | "The Abyss (feat. Lana Del Rey)" | 4:42 | ||||||||
| 20. | "Red Terror" | 3:51 | ||||||||
| 21. | "Without a Warning" | 4:57 | ||||||||
| 22. | "Hurry Up Tomorrow" | 4:51 | ||||||||
| 00XO Edition | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 23. | "Runaway" | 3:20 | ||||||||
| 24. | "Society" | 2:47 | ||||||||
| Pharrell Williams Edition | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 23. | "Closing Night" | |||||||||
| First Pressing | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "The Crowd" | 4:52 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Cry for Me" | 3:44 | ||||||||
| 3. | "São Paulo (with Anitta)" | 5:04 | ||||||||
| 4. | "How It Feels" | 2:47 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Take Me Back to LA" | 4:27 | ||||||||
| 6. | "The Abyss" | 3:09 | ||||||||
| 7. | "Open Hearts" | 3:29 | ||||||||
| 8. | "Timeless (with Playboi Carti)" | 4:16 | ||||||||
| 9. | "Africa" | 3:22 | ||||||||
| 10. | "Runaway" | 3:20 | ||||||||
| 11. | "Red Terror" | 2:35 | ||||||||
Notes[]
- All songs in the "First Pressing" edition are mixed differently and feature some different edits to adapt to the lack of transitions.
- "Give Me Mercy" is titled "Africa" in the "First Pressing" edition.
- "The Abyss" ends halfway through, and doesn't include Lana Del Rey in the "First Pressing" edition.
- "Without a Warning" is titled "The Crowd" in the "First Pressing" edition.
- "Society" is titled "How It Feels" in the "First Pressing" edition.
Cut tracks[]
Notes[]
- In a 2023 interview with Variety, Tesfaye stated there used to be a song on the album that shares a title with one of the fan-dubbed names for the record. It's unknown which he hinted at, as there was a couple of these floating around like "After Life" or "In Heaven".[15] The latter would make most sense, as Abel did cover the Peter Ivers song.
Trivia[]
- The album's release date coincides with the Aquarius zodiac season (January 20-February 19), in which Tesfaye was born (February 16).
- A CDQ file for an early version of "Wake Me Up" leaked online in January 2024, and can be found through YouTube, TikTok or SoundCloud.
- Florence + the Machine's feature on "Reflections Laughing" (backing vocals) can be considered a full circle moment, as in 2011 Tesfaye last collaborated with the band on the "Shake It Out" remix.
- "Take Me Back to LA" was previously recorded and intended for After Hours, as Tesfaye previewed it on an Instagram live from March 25, 2020.
- "Big Sleep" was previously intended for Dawn FM, and was revealed to fans in the October 2021 teaser for After Hours Til Dawn, dubbed "I Love It When You're Angry" until its release.
- "The Abyss" (first named "Hold Your Heart") was also intended for not only After Hours, but Tesfaye's scrapped 2017 album. The former was previewed on another Instagram live from 2020, and the earlier demo leaked online in 2022.
- "São Paulo" features an interpolation of "Bota na Boca Bota na Cara" by Tati Quebra Barraco.
- "Given Up On Me" samples "Wild Is the Wind" by Nina Simone.
- "Niagara Falls" samples "Someone to Love" by Jon B.
- "Without a Warning" samples "Hurry Up Tomorrow" by The Nu'rons.
- "Hurry Up Tomorrow" samples "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)" by Peter Ivers.
- The outro for "Hurry Up Tomorrow" loops back to "High for This", Tesfaye's first ever album track.
- The Jimmy Kimmel Live! performance can be seen as another full circle moment for this trilogy, as Tesfaye performed at the show as well in 2020 to promote "Blinding Lights".
- On January 25, Amazon's page for the vinyl showed that Hurry Up Tomorrow would be a 2-disc album.[16] This turned out to not be true however, and it was fixed to including one disc the next day.
- The password for hurryuptomorrow.club was TH33NDI5N34R. The website was later made available for everyone without having to use the password, but on January 30 the site wasnt accessible at all.
References[]
- ↑ The Weeknd Says He'll Likely Retire Stage Name After Next Album - Variety, May 8, 2023
- ↑ @NewsWeeknd - X, January 10, 2022
- ↑ The Weeknd on the ‘Breakdown’ That Inspired His ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ Album and Film, and Why He Might Retire the Weeknd: ‘It Never Ends Until You End It’
- ↑ The Weeknd Shares Plan to Retire Stage Name: ‘I Still Want to Kill the Weeknd’
- ↑ The Weeknd announces the ‘final feature’ of his career
- ↑ @theweeknd - Instagram, July 18, 2024
- ↑ @theweeknd - Instagram, July 23, 2024
- ↑ @theweeknd - Instagram, August 6, 2024
- ↑ @theweeknd - Instagram, August 21, 2024
- ↑ @theweeknd - Instagram, September 4, 2024
- ↑ The Weeknd Movie 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' Gets Lionsgate Deal
- ↑ @theweeknd - X, November 27, 2024
- ↑ @theweeknd - Instagram, January 13, 2025
- ↑ Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025) Official Trailer – Abel Tesfaye, Jenna Ortega, Barry Keoghan
- ↑ The Weeknd on the Impact of ‘The Idol,’ ‘Live at SoFi Stadium’ Documentary, and What’s Coming Next
- ↑ @SiteTheWeekndBR - X, Jan 25, 2025
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