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Review: The Weeknd's 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' delivers a potential farewell

Tomorrow has arrived. Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, professionally known as The Weeknd, dropped his sixth studio album, Hurry Up Tomorrow on Friday, closing the book on a generation’s worth of storytelling. A week before the release, he posted an Instagram reel showing each of his music eras. Playing over the video was his 2011 song “Rolling Stone,” a transcendent track in which The Weeknd predicts his career trajectory. Fourteen years later, The Weeknd is a global icon. The album feels like a farewell from start to finish. In the opening line of “Wake Me Up,” the album’s first track, the singer cries out the words “All I have is my legacy” over a sample of the song “Thriller” from his late idol Michael Jackson. This leaves fans to ponder life after Tesfaye retires his The Weeknd persona. The track slowly builds a synth-heavy tension along with what sounds like a heartbeat in the background. The track climaxes with a beat switch, painting shades of his 2022 album Dawn FM. He sings, “Are you real, or are you an illusion? / ‘Cause I fear your love’s my delusion.” The Weeknd appears to be questioning the existence of God, given that exploring the “After Life” was an early-set theme and the title Tesfaye led fans to believe would be the name of the album. The Weeknd has had a way of making the audience feel like they are ascending into a higher dimension. Hurry Up Tomorrow is no different. An operatic experience with seamless transitions between songs, it truly is chilling how well The Weeknd creates flowing transitions. “Baptized In Fear” into “Open Hearts” is the best of them all. The album’s second track, “Cry for Me,” is already on pace to be the most successful song of the album, offering eerie remnants of The Weeknd’s breakthrough 2015 song “The Hills.” The track begs for sympathy over a tantalizing drum, as he shows off his explosive vocals on a powerful chorus. Though “Until We’re Skin & Bones” serves as an instrumental prelude to “Baptized in Fear,” the fourth album track “São Paulo,” featuring Brazilian singer-songwriter Anitta, doesn’t really fit with the storyline of the album or the trilogy. The previously released single’s fast-paced instrumental gives disco or club vibes that seem out of place for an album as somber as Hurry Up Tomorrow. The Weeknd and rapper Future blessed fans with a duet on the 10th track, “Enjoy The Show.” In the track, The Weeknd acknowledges his previous drug abuse and while he’s left that lifestyle behind, he doesn’t mind one last encounter over a Loaded Honey sample. The Weeknd also took a moment to pop his collar and revel in his accomplishments as a high-school dropout in his twelfth track, “I Can’t Wait To Get There.” The track gives a classic 80s, slow-jam R&B vibe. He sings, “High school dropout, chillin’ with academics / And I eviscerate my enemies and piss on they grave, yeah.” The track was fittingly followed by “Timeless” featuring rapper Playboi Carti, an up-beat song boasting of success and the everlasting impact The Weeknd will have on music. Not only did the album cement the legacy of The Weeknd, but also those of producers Mike Dean and Metro Boomin. Dean, known for his synthesizing production and mixing, provides the perfect blend with The Weeknd’s falsetto. “Reflections Laughing,” “Baptized in Fear” and “Enjoy the Show” are prime examples. Within his album, The Weeknd took the liberty of mentioning a few key locations. In “Reflections Laughing,” featuring rapper Travis Scott, The Weeknd included a voice message from artist Chxrry22 referencing Dallas. In the song, she said “My girl told me she saw you in Dallas, said you didn’t look good / How much longer you in Texas for? / Don’t let this industry break you, baby / Don’t let them take you from me.” The Weeknd also highlighted his relationship with the city of Los Angeles. The city, through his ups and downs, has served as a metaphor for The Weeknd’s rise to fame and the emotional distress that came with it. In his 2011 song “The Morning,” he sings, “Order plane tickets / Cali is the mission,” symbolizing his rise in the music industry. His 2020 album After Hours catapulted him into the global superstar he is now, but it also indicated that The Weeknd was over Hollywood. The album dropped in the middle of Covid-19, helped him land a Super Bowl halftime performance and earned him the most streamed record of all-time with his song “Blinding Lights.” In “Take Me Back To LA,” the 15th album track, The Weeknd reflects on his desire to chase a life in LA, once upon a time. His imagery is second to none, detailing his life as a young man growing up in Scarborough. The track serves as a turning point in the album, a final pit-stop before the end. The Weeknd collaborated with another familiar artist, Lana Del Rey for “The Abyss,” a nostalgic track with angelic vocals from the two after asking for God’s mercy in track 17, “Give Me Mercy.” The album’s final and title track is an outcry to be freed from the life he’s chosen, pleading to be saved and begging his mother for forgiveness. “I want heaven, when I die / I wanna change, I want the pain / No more,” he sings in “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” To conclude it all, fans noticed the track seamlessly transitions into the first track of his discography, “High for This.” If this truly is the end for The Weeknd, Tesfaye has etched himself as one of the greatest artists, not only of our generation but of all time. @babyboimatt sports-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu
By Matthew Tibebe, The Shorthorn sports editor | Sun, Feb 2, 2025

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