Admittedly, I’ve had an up-and-down relationship with the music of Abel Tesfaye — known colloquially as The Weeknd — for years now. The Toronto native has produced hits on his recent studio albums “After Hours” and “Dawn FM,” including songs such as “Sacrifice,” “Blinding Lights,” “Save Your Tears” and “Take My Breath.” However, I never found those albums to offer much replay value as time passed.
One of the biggest issues for me with those two albums specifically was the feeling that the sounds blended together, leading to a lack of variance between the 30 tracks across both LPs. When The Weeknd announced last month that his final studio album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” would be releasing, I was skeptical on whether or not the music would suffer from the same issues.
Upon first listening to “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” I immediately felt the same way. The first track on the album, “Wake Me Up,” sounds exactly like something that could be heard on any given The Weeknd album. As I continued to hear the entire 85-minute, 22-track album, my thoughts on the sound remained the same. However, that doesn’t mean there weren’t positives to take away from what is allegedly The Weeknd’s final album.
One of the major differences I found between “Hurry Up Tomorrow” and Tesfaye’s previous two albums was the quality of the lyrics. For the most part, the themes of The Weeknd’s lyrics remain the same — drug addiction, self-deprecation, love and loneliness. However, moments appear in the album that make you take a step back and listen twice.
This is particularly the case in songs “Wake Me Up,” “I Can’t Wait To Get There,” “I Can’t Fucking Sing” and “Reflections Laughing.” Tesfaye takes time to reflect on his career as The Weeknd, and certainly sends signals that make you believe him when he says this is the end of his saga. Perhaps the most clear example of this comes on “Wake Me Up” when he opens the album with “All I have is my legacy… I’m all alone when it fades to black.”
Another major difference between “Hurry Up Tomorrow” and some of The Weeknd’s recent albums are the amount of features. Collaborations on the album include Justice, Anitta, Travis Scott, Florence + the Machine, Future, Playboi Carti, Giorgio Moroder and Lana Del Rey. This is compared to zero features on “After Hours” and just two on “Dawn FM.”
If you’re already a fan of The Weeknd’s work, you’ll enjoy “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” It’s an appropriate end to what has been a compelling ride for 15 years. Is it his best work? Far from it. However, the album does offer enough to keep you along for all 22 tracks.
3/5 stars
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @theweeknd, Instagram
