Courtesy of XO Republic

The Weekend released the final installment in his album trilogy

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, has just released his 6th studio album. The final installment of a trilogy featuring 2 previous albums, After Hours (2020), and Dawn FM (2022). His newest album Hurry Up Tomorrow, was released on January 31, 2025. The album features huge artists like Future, Travis Scott, Playboy Carti, and Lana Del Rey. Composed of 22 tracks, the album features original sounds and a diverse selection of music.

Born in Toronto, Canada, Abel Tesfaye started small; sending music to producers, and anonymously releasing music on YouTube. Soon, with the help of others, he was able to put out his first studio album House Of Balloons which got a lot of recognition. He soon started headlining music festivals like Lollapalooza, and Coachella. He started collaborating with big artists like Ariana Grande and Kendrick Lamar. Since then, The Weeknd has shot to the forefront of the music industry and his impact indicates he will be there for a while. Awarded with four Grammys, as well as 20 Billboard awards. He holds the record for having the most played song on the Spotify app with just over four and a half billion streams. His album After Hours is the most streamed R&B album of all time, with his album Starboy coming in a close second.

Some of my favorite tracks of his album are the singles “São Paulo”, and “Timeless”, which were released early but included in the album when it came out. Another one is “The Abyss” which features Lana Del Rey. One thing that I like about the features that he puts in his album is that he’s able to incorporate that specific artist’s characteristics in the song. Another thing about The Weeknd that I greatly admire is how his music stays consistent, you can trust that every track that you hear on any album will be really interesting and unique, and you can tell that he works hard on every song. As far as I know, The Weeknd co-writes every song that he puts out and has written for other famous artists as well.

The new album Hurry Up Tomorrow signifies the end of his alter-ego as ‘The Weeknd’, as many have speculated how it might be the last album under this name. This album has received really good ratings overall. Listening to this album was interesting because it showed a diverse range of different music characteristics. It exhibited genres like R&B, Synth-Pop, and even Brazilian Phonk. It’s really difficult to produce an album with that range of music, but Tesfaye completed it with amazing quality and production. Listeners all over the world, including myself, were happy with the album and can’t wait to see what he does next.