The Weeknd Isn’t Abandoning Music, Just His Name: ‘I’ve Overcome Every Challenge as This Persona’
The Weeknd doesn’t usually disappear for long stretches of time. No more than two years separate almost every album he has released since 2011, barring the nearly four-year space between 2016’s Starboy and 2020’s After Hours — but even that saw the release of My Dear Melancholy in 2018. His most recent LP, Dawn FM, arrived in January 2022, making the gap leading up to his upcoming record Hurry Up Tomorrow the longest since then. But when the artist born Abel Tesfaye inevitably returns after that release, it might not be as the Weeknd.
“Everything needs to feel like a challenge. And for me right now, the Weeknd, whatever that is, it’s been mastered,” Tesfaye recently told Variety. “No one’s gonna do the Weeknd better than me, and I’m not gonna do it better than what it is right now. I think I’ve overcome every challenge as this persona.”
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Hurry Up Tomorrow marks the end of the album trilogy that also includes After Hours and Dawn FM. It’s also the concluding chapter of “my existence as the Weeknd,” the musician said. “It’s a headspace I’ve gotta get into that I just don’t have any more desire for,” he continued. “You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all. It becomes this rat race: more accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s. It never ends until you end it.”
This realization crystalized for Tesfaye as he was performing those Number One singles — “Blinding Lights,” “The Hills,” and “Save Your Tears” among them — on his recent Dawn FM stadium tour. It was the final show, a sold-out night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. He showed up for the crowd, but when he opened his mouth to start to show he realized that his voice didn’t. “I was defeated on the world stage with everyone watching,” he said. The show was ultimately rescheduled.
“Part of me actually was thinking, ‘You lost your voice because it’s done; you said what you had to say. Don’t overstay at the party — you can end it now and live a happy life,’” Tesfaye said. “Put the bow on it: ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’? Now we’re here. When is the right time to leave, if not at your peak? Once you understand who I am too much, then it’s time to pivot.”
Hurry Up Tomorrow will arrive on Jan. 24. The theatrical release of an accompanying feature-length film starring Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan will follow on May 16.
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