The Weeknd is back with sixth studio album “Hurry Up Tomorrow” his first in three years (Dawn FM) but his last under this stage name. It also serves as a companion piece to the film of the same name. The album is the final installment of a trilogy following the Weeknd’s previous two studio albums, After Hours (2020) and Dawn FM (2022). It also debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, marking the Weeknd’s fifth number-one album on the chart.
Abel’s whole album is about dropping his stage name and the struggle to move on from everything it gave him. Will he be successful under his real name if he drops his stage name? That fame/celebrity status and success did come with his drug/alcohol abuse that has had him cheat death many times. It has also come with many failed-toxic relationships that have hurt him as well. It all culminated when without warning he lost his voice and wasn’t sure if it was going to come back and if he was ever going to be the same. He also talks about losing his faith and asking for forgiveness from a higher power and is coming to find religion, which is good if he wants to be sober and turns to religion to help him in living a healthy life. He does explore ideas of being a parent and having a steady healthy relationship in the future. There are some instrumentals which aren’t bad or skits as well.
He does question life a lot like in the first track “Wake me Up” which is about his career/legacy and what is the point if life can end. “Cry for me” is a good song about his exes and what he would do for lovers like two previous tracks on “After Hours”. There are some good emotional songs about his near-death experiences and starting over but his breathing issues with his sleeping conditions like “Baptized in fire”. It bleeds into “Open Hearts” which is a common thing about rebirth and a new love in the future. Then “Opening night” is a short track about a lover. “Reflections laughing” is also hitting on the themes of reflecting on his career but Travis Scott part is not needed or the phone call that is on it. “There are some bad tracks that do not make sense like the reggae on track “Sao Paulo” that if you translate the Spanish the lyrics are useless. “Timeless” is also a track that does not need the feature from Playboy Carti that makes the song worse. “Niagara Falls” is an introspective about his life with drugs and one night stands but has a nice R&B sound do it.
“Enjoy the show” is a good emotional song about his drug abuse/self harm/past girlfriends and saying to us the fans are we enjoying the show but same like last track the feature from Future is not needed. “Given up on me” also hits on the drug abuse but goes with the previous song about the struggle then becomes Jazzy at the end. “I can’t wait to get there” is about his feud with Drake which is a nice smooth R&B song. Another track about drugs/bad one night stands where is being introspective. While “Take me back to LA” is a call back for “Escape from LA” a previous song of his but it’s more retrospective on his career/fame and moving on with some Synch to it. Same for “Big Sleep” as he thinks he wasted time/living on borrowed life as he looks back. “Give me mercy” is a good emotional song also about his struggles with substance and loss of faith. While “The Abyss” continues the theme about the unknown for his career after dropping his stage name and if he made the right choice or not. “Drive” is a good poppy-R&B track about taking control in his life and starting over”. “Red Terror” is about his past relationship with his mom if he lived a good life and can be a future parent if he made an impact on the world if he died, which was very emotional.
The last two tracks sum up the album as in “Without a warning” where he loses his voice so the fear of it rides over for him if he cannot sing again or with the stage name. Could he separate himself from that life/persona and move onto a new life which is a very good emotional track. The last track ever as “The Weeknd” “Hurry up tomorrow” which is the album name. It has biblical themes to it like the idea of this is the end of the persona and he hopes it all works out and he has done everything he could possibly do musically, so this is the goodbye. If this really the end for “The Weeknd” it was a fun R&B ride of six albums/many collaborations and sixteen years of music, it was a nice ride. There were some misses with the feature artists on this album but we all get the point of the album of him dropping the persona and all the personal struggles that came along the way. We all hope he can find success under his real name, in his personal life being sober and turning to religion because all artists deserve to live a happy life even if their music will never be the same. Abel you want to hurry up for tomorrow well here it is here and we all hope to enjoy it.