Overview

Abel Tesfaye, globally known as The Weeknd, was born in Toronto, Canada, and was raised by his grandmother and single mom. Tesfaye had a rough upbringing during his teens and 20s which were spent being homeless on the streets until he fully committed to his passion by basing his songs around his struggles. After releasing cult classic mixtapes like “Trilogy” (2012) and “Kissland” (2013), Republic Records noticed his uprising and signed him, releasing him from the obstacles homelessness brought him .

The Weeknd tends to tie his albums to an overarching trilogy, similar to his mixtape collection referred to as “Trilogy” that includes “Echos of Silence,” “Thursday,” and “House of Balloons.” This new record pulls major influence from the start of Tesfaye’s career with many songs drawing inspiration from the soundscapes of “Thursday.” 

A common theme of three acts, or three eras, seems to reach the light in The Weeknd’s seemingly final album under the name The Weeknd, changing his stage name to his birth name Abel Tesfaye. Another common theme across this trilogy is the motif of the title track always appearing somewhere on the tracklist, with the title track “Hurry Up Tomorrow” closing the album. The seamless transitions between songs on this record emulate the greatness of past Weeknd albums with Tesfaye’s flawless ability to blend these songs and projects together, as seen in “Dawn FM” and “After Hours.”

The album starts off hot with a certified chart smasher of a song, “Wake Me Up,” which seems to be interpolating the melody and beat of “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, which furthers the comparisons between the two artists and the narrative of The Weeknd being this generation’s Michael Jackson. 

“Take Me Back to LA” reverts back to this concept trilogy’s first album with the song “Escape from LA” which comes from the record “After Hours.”

End of a legacy 

(Trigger warning for mentions of the artist’s suicidal lyrics.)

The motif of life and death pops up even more throughout this new record, especially in the songs. 

Tesfaye seems to be reaching out towards the afterlife with the songs being a playlist for his funeral. He wants to rid himself of the fame and the burden of his stage name “The Weeknd.” He mentions his itch for death or finality of his career on “Enjoy The Show” when he says, “I just wanna die when I’m at my f***** peak.” Tesfaye wants to end his career on a high note, unlike some other legends who fizzled out at the end of their careers with a drop in quality of music. “And I’m ready, I’ll go overdose, I don’t wanna make it past thirty-four, And when the curtains call, I hope you mourn,” expressing his suicidal thoughts that may have stemmed from his braggadocios celebrity lifestyle.

Tesfaye wants to move to the end of a chapter in his life, a name that has held him down to the rules of the industry and lifestyle of being a global megastar. Metaphorically killing The Weeknd’s name is both symbolic and full circle for the Weeknd, as he has been alluding towards the concept of ego death his whole career, like in the music video for “I Can’t Feel My Face” where he willingly accepts his fate in a car crash. There also seems to be a common pattern of battling with suicidal thoughts in most of his album rollouts or even music videos. These messages and themes come from the initial origin of The Weeknd.

Tesfaye created The Weeknd from pain and he apologizes for his past actions in his personal  and professional life. He shows how he is moving on from the pain as he embraces his struggles in his songs. I also have a theory for his name as he chose it because most of his pain and vices happen on the weekend, therefore the stage name for the artist he was trying to build and curate should be the time of place from where this soundscape exists, going to a party on the weekend. So, ending this idolized alias is the final stepping stone for Tesfaye to move on from his struggles and be free to do whatever he wants under his real name Abel Tesfaye.

Top 3

My personal favorites of this album are “Drive,” “Cry For Me,” and “Open Hearts.” “Niagara Falls” also deserves an honorable mention with its layered drum pattern and a spacy production that gives off that late-night drive vibes to the song. The track “Drive” serves as another deep cut that die-hard fans will appreciate, and I believe this track has the potential to have a stunning music video of Tesfaye driving through LA seeing all of his eras and saying goodbye to The Weeknd’s alter ego.

Then there is “Cry For Me,” which has a Brazilian club beat similar to “Sao Paulo” and a hard-to-miss beat inflection that matches the Micheal Jackson song “Beat It.” This sampling of Michael Jackson is back-to-back on this record as the song before it seems to have some of Jackson’s “Thriller” in it, “Wake Me Up.”

Lastly, there is “Open Hearts,” my pick for predicting which song will blow up in the mainstream the most. The Weeknd’s vocals are accompanied by a mean baseline and synth pattern that drives fans into a heartfelt catchy chorus, “Where do I start when I open my heart? It’s never easy falling in love again.”

Rating

Tesfaye came into this record possibly knowing this was the last album under The Weeknd mantra, therefore, this record has the potential to top all of his other records in the long run. But, as a tie-the-bow album on Tesfaye’s career, it is nothing more than perfect. All the parallels calling back to past projects and similarly inspired beats and inspirations give The Weeknd a proper sendoff into the LA sunset. His character originating from “After Hours” went through “Dawn FM” and now “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” can now rest and let Tesfaye focus on other things like Hollywood or different genres of music.

The Weeknd’s sixth studio album “Hurry Up Tomorrow” receives a solid 8.5 stars out of 10. Some misses, lackluster tracks, and some unnecessary skits formulate this score, but overall I enjoyed the record and have not stopped listening to my favorites from it. The misses come in the last half of the album with “Enjoy The Show,” “Take Me Back to LA,” and “Big Sleep.”