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- The Weeknd – born Abel Tesfaye on Feb. 16, 1990 – released four albums from 2013 to 2022.
- In 2023, Abel said he was going to ‘kill the Weeknd.’
- His next album would be ‘my last hurray’ as that persona.
Is it going to be Monday forever for Abel Tesfaye? The man known as The Weeknd said that the persona behind “Blinding Lights,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” “The Hills,” “Earned It,” and other chart-topping tracks said that his next album is going to be the swansong for this incarnation. ” I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” Tesfaye told W magazine in May 2023. ” It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. 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.”
This next album will close out a historic career for The Weeknd. After posting some music online in the late 2000s, The Weeknd made his debut in 2011 with the House of Balloons EP/mixtape. It was a critically-acclaimed release, which saw him soon follow it up with the Thursday and Echoes of Silence EPs. The Weeknd collected them into the Trilogy release, which as of 2023, has gone triple-platinum. Weeknd released his debut studio album, Kiss Land, in 20213. However, his big breakthrough is considered to be Beauty Behind the Madness. The 2015 album has since gone 6x Platinum, and featured his hits “Love ME Harder,” “The Hills,” and “Can’t Feel My Face.”
(Jennie Book/Shutterstock)
2016’s Starboy includes the title track, “I Feel It Coming,” and “Die For You.” The 4x-Platinum-certified album continued The Weeknd’s success as a mainstream artist, a success that would seemingly peak with 2020’s After Hours. Released in March, right as the COVID-19 pandemic surged and forced a series of worldwide lockdowns, it became a soundtrack to a very dark time. “After Hours hits the best balance yet of the gloomy melodrama of the Weeknd’s early EPs or his 2018 release My Dear Melancholy and the pop slickness of his 2016 LP Starboy,” wrote Jon Dolan in Rolling Stone‘s review of the album.
The review dropped a few days after the album, and it called the second single a “Europhile synth-pop-steeped” song that evoked “Depeche Mode and the Human League in its lonely-planet luster.” The reviewer and, arguably, nobody had any idea just how big “Blinding Lights” was going to be.
While Lil Nas X’s “OId Town Road” has the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Blinding Lights” shattered the records for most weeks in the top five (43), top 10 (57), top 40 (86) and on the Hot 100 (90). This marathon unseated Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” as Billboard’s Greatest of All Time in 2021. At the time of its coronation by Billboard, the song was certified 8x Platinum by the RIAA. It was his second-best-selling song, behind the 11x Platinum-certified “The Hills.” It has since gone to be certified Diamond.
The Weeknd attends the LA premiere of “Uncut Gems” at ArcLight Hollywood, in Los Angeles in 2019 (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/Shutterstock)
In 2022, The Weeknd seemingly continued the story told in After Hours with Dawn FM. The album, featuring appearances from Jim Carrey, didn’t match the commercial success of After Hours. While it still had a hit with “Take My Breath,” the project failed to latch onto audiences the same way as the previous collection did.
Tesfaye told W that he’s “said everything I can say” as The Weeknd, and now he’s working on “my last hurrah” as the performer. As the word prepares for the last Weeknd album – ever? – here’s what we know about it.
When Will The Weekend’s New Album Be Released?
The Weeknd performs during the halftime show of the NFL Super Bowl 55 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Ashley Landis/AP/Shutterstock)
As of May 2023, The Weeknd has not announced a release date for his new album.
The Weeknd told W magazine in May 2023 that the visuals of his albums have been just as important to the story as the music. For After Hours, The Weeknd’s trademark red blazer black pants, and bandaged face gave way to the aged look of Dawn FM. “The visuals are vital to my career,” Tesfaye told the publication. “The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd. This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”
What Is The Weekend’s New Album Called?
The Weeknd at the 2018 Global Citizen Festival (Adela Loconte/Shutterstock)
As of May 2023, the Weeknd has yet to confirm the name of the new album.
In February 2023, Tesfaye tweeted that his HBO concert would “be the last piece of Dawn FM.” He also added, “I can see the horizon.” With the roll-out ahead of Dawn FM, The Weeknd used a lot of “dawn” imagery, leading some to think his final project would incorporate the word “horizon.”
HBO concert will be the last piece of Dawn FM. i can see the horizon …
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) February 18, 2023
What Is The Weekend’s New Record Going To Sound Like?
The Weeknd at the 2018 51st Festival d’ete de Quebec (Rmv/Shutterstock)
In January 2023, he spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and said that he was at work on the next project. “I’ve definitely been inspired,” he said. “I’ve been in the studio.”
In April 2023, he went on Instagram Live and played some unreleased music. When a fanpage captured the video and shared it, The Weeknd commented, “By the way, don’t know if the song I played on live will ever see the light of day… we were just jammin out.”
by the way don’t know if the song I played on live will ever see the light of day… we were just jammin out https://t.co/jqFPrzL8TN
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) April 24, 2023
Who Will Feature On The Weeknd’s New Album?
he Weeknd performs at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in 2018 (Amy Harris/Invision/AP/Shutterstock)
In the past, The Weeknd’s albums have featured appearances by Daft Punk, Lana Del Rey, Kendrick Lamar, and Ed Sheeran. After Hours was strictly a Weeknd-centric project, with no features on the official album. However, Ariana Grande did jump on a remix of “Save Your Tears,” which helped propel it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Dawn FM had Tyler, The Creator and Lil Wayne on it.
One might wonder if Drake, who has been alongside The Weeknd throughout his career, would grace the persona’s swansong. But, as of May 2023, there are no indications that anyone but The Weeknd will be on this final album.
What Songs Are Going To Be On The Weeknd’s Last Album?
The Weeknd performs on day three at Lollapalooza in Chicago in 2018 (Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP/Shutterstock)
The Weeknd doesn’t have any free-floating singles to appear on the album. In 2022, he released the last Dawn FM singles, jumped on Metro Boomin‘s “Creepin’,” and released “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” from the Avatar: The Way of Water soundtrack. He returned to music in 2023 with “Double Fantasy,” a single from The Idol soundtrack.
As for information about this new music — and what this exit will entail — fans will have to keep an eye on what comes over the horizon.
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