Ramblings & Reviews : The Weeknd - Hurry Up Tomorrow
When today ends, I’ll discover who I am.
All good things come in threes, and if somebody knows it as well as I do, it’s The Weeknd. He came out of the gate swinging with his first trilogy in 2011, and fourteen years later, he’s closing the book with another one. If the massive After Hours was his descent into the flames of Hell and the underrated Dawn FM was a blurry Purgatory, our last installment, Hurry Up Tomorrow, is looking back at reflections of the past before being swallowed whole by the sunlight of a new day.
Not only is the music incredibly dense by itself, with its 25 tracks, 22 on the standard release and 3 store exclusives, the project is also said to be his final project under his current moniker. A movie with the same title, directed by Trey Edward Shults, is coming out next week. Based on the music and videos released so far, I expect it to be an intense, emotional farewell. For now, let’s focus on what we do have!
THE MUSIC
The genesis of the project came from an incident on his After Hours Till Dawn tour, where he lost his voice and had to cut the show short. They started writing the movie first, inspired by that experience, before building the album. Sonically, it’s mostly the synth-pop blend of R&B and 80s revival we know and love him for, but there are many brilliant ideas and sounds that he hasn’t introduced before. I’ve always loved his work, especially in the last few years. I don’t think any of his current male peers match his energy, his work ethic, or his unashamed pop qualities… and that voice!
The first 7-track run is INSANE, and the opener, Wake Me Up, is low-key his best song ever. The Justice production, the bassline sampled from Thriller, the dark and dramatic lyrics, it’s just so good. I heard it first on the morning of the release; it’s 7 AM, I’m in the subway, on my way to work for one last time. I needed to hear it all so bad, I might have cried a little bit when the beat kicked in. When his vocals by the end transition into the nasty, saturated synths and bass of Cry For Me, I KNEW I was in for a journey.
“All I have is my legacy
I been losing my memory
No afterlife, no other side
I'm all alone when it fades to black.”
The Metro Boomin/Mike Dean track is an introspective banger. He is exhausted, lost, and reminiscing on past relationships and bad habits. The instrumental is loud, heavy, effortlessly transitioning into the I Can’t Fucking Sing interlude, also bridging into São Paulo. Keeping the saturated sounds of the previous song, this Brazilian Funk-inspired track is even dirtier, sweatier. The Weeknd has never been shy about sex, but this one is especially blunt. Or maybe it’s just Anitta. He’s losing himself in pleasure before falling further.
“Baby, ride me 'til the darkness of the night
Kill me softly like you want me euthanized”
Baptized In Fear slows the pace down for a bit, with The Weeknd being paralyzed by his guilt, trying to escape his demons. He paints a clear picture with the lyrics: he is conflicted, afraid, but through this baptism, he’s washing his sins away. He repeats “voices'll tell me that I should carry on” while the synth builds up in the instrumental, leading into the intense Open Hearts. On the surface, it’s a love song, he’s learning, trying to be vulnerable with someone again. Conceptually, it perfectly ties in with the previous track: he hears whispers in the wind, angels calling his name. He is still afraid, but he knows there’s the possibility of something better ahead.
Opening Night and Reflections Laughing is a conversation in two parts, before and after a show. He’s all alone and only has drugs to fall back to, with its highs and its lows. Enjoy The Show let us know that this is his last before the curtain calls. He’s ready to kill The Weeknd off, hoping to leave it all behind.
“I just wanna die when I'm at my fuckin' peak”
Given Up On Me, the halfway mark in the regular edition of the album, is also divided into two. Its samples, Nina Simone’s Wild Is The Wind and On My Way by Chicago Gangsters, are integral elements of the song, both through the sounds and the lyrics. It’s about a tumultuous, obsessive relationship, with a lover and with substances. In the outro, he might finally be ready to let go.
“It keeps calling me back, the sunshine
I can feel the warmth on my skin for the first time”
I Can’t Wait To Get There further elaborates; we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a lush, sensual track. Love how he sings sometimes over, sometimes under Tommy Parker’s pitched-up voice. It’s a dynamic, hopeful beginning for the latter half of the record.
“I can’t wait to get there, aware, my heart
I wish I could get there, to know
Where my love can grow”
Timeless, the album’s lead single, if we forget the scrapped Dancing In The Flames, is the first and only hype song of the record. The Weeknd and Playboi Carti are flaunting their successes over this trap, atmospheric beat, co-produced by Mike Dean, Pharrell Williams & Ojivolta. Niagara Falls is cute but forgettable; it doesn’t add much to the story. Its outro does blow the rest of the song out of the water; it smoothly transitions and sets up Take Me Back To LA. Not only contemplating his past mistakes, he is also looking back at his childhood, an important theme of the project. The fame and the money might have been what he was looking for, but none of it feels real. He wants his soul back.
And he’s close to getting it in Big Sleep, co-written and co-produced with musical legend Giorgio Moroder. The introduction of the song is confused, like a broken record, slowing down, making the grave, emotional synths that’ll kick in soon even more gripping. This song is so dramatic and powerful, I live!!! Like a lot of other moments on the record, it’s cinematic: he is lying on his deathbed, it’s his requiem. It is such a highlight in the second half of the record, I wish the next songs were as exceptional.
“Now I lay me down to sleep
Pray the Lord my soul to keep
Angels watch me through the night
Wake me up with light”
Give Me Mercy is brighter, poppier, with Max Martin and Oneohtrix Point Never co-producing it. He’s not afraid anymore, coming to God and asking for forgiveness. Cars and driving have been a constant motif throughout this trilogy, mostly symbolizing the endless road of addiction he’s lost himself on. With Drive, he’s finding an exit. It’s about freedom, rolling the windows down, feeling the wind on his body. Beautiful lyrics and instrumentation. I especially love the second verse, where he’s born again, thus experiencing new things all over while being careful not to repeat the same mistakes.
“And I feel the sky falling down on the road
Be precious with my heart, drive me slow
Just be kind, I'm a child again
And no child deserves suffering”
The Abyss could very well be about the ephemeral nature of relationships in our doomed world, but thematically, I also see it as another goodbye to his stage persona. Lana Del Rey has few words and vocals on the track, but I don’t think she adds that much. “It’s a threat, not a promise” is a funny callback to her beef with Azealia Banks, I’ll give her that!
“You know my heart belongs to you
One last time, say that you want me too
The only words that gave me life
Now I'll see you on the other side”
Red Terror is like the other side of the same coin, where The Weeknd sings to the child in him, reassuring him. He’s pretty much writing this as if his mother did. It’s so moving. There is something so beautiful, visceral, about channeling your own mother’s love to take care of the child in you. I relate to that heavily. This is the last track on the first-pressing, original tracklist of the album. The last words of it are “call me by the old, familiar name”, a thoughtful line, and a probable hint to his next stage name. Without a Warning, like many other tracks on the record, shows the complexity of fame and success. He needs to break the cycle, he needs to change to be better, but he’s not sure of what tomorrow’s made of. The track itself is one of the least interesting to me, but there’s a lot of great lyrics.
“I'm stuck in a cycle, just wanna feel life from the morning
I should've been sober, but I can't afford to be boring”
Finally, Hurry Up Tomorrow, our title track and closer, is here. It sounds like it was made for the ending credits of the film. I’m curious to see if it’s the case! It has this emotional, crowd waving their hands in the air quality to it. He’s finally taking action, confessing and seeing the light. It’s not as grand as Big Sleep... but it’s optimistic! I love that it seemingly transitions back into High For This, the first track of his first project, House of Balloons, before suddenly stopping and leaving us in silence for a few seconds. A nice easter egg, symbolizing that he indeed managed to break the loop.
Compared to the rest of this pretty long and intense record, it’s hard for the 3 extra tracks to bring another angle to the record. Runaway is a cute ballad, Society feels like a sister song to Open Hearts with its Max Martin, sleek production and Closing Night is, of course, a parallel to Opening Night, giving us a slightly different outlook on a faster-paced beat. They’re nice, but they’re not touching any of the other songs on the project. Bonus tracks for a reason!
THE ARTWORK
This is the part of the Ramblings & Reviews where I go over the album’s main cover art. Most of the time, I will only focus on that unless single covers bring something else to the understanding of the image, or a vinyl/CD/digital/store exclusive variant outdoes the main artwork.
As you can see, I’m not going to get into the actual digital cover they ended up selecting. That one was a still from the movie, with the graphic design making it seem like a poster rather than an album cover. The one in the article, the original cover, is striking in its simplicity. It looks much better next to the After Hours and Dawn FM covers, as it is also a front-facing headshot.
Interestingly enough, both of the pre-release singles, Timeless and São Paulo, feature close-ups of masks, a motif heavily featured in the tour and album visuals.
In this cover, though, The Weeknd is leaving costumes, sunglasses, or prosthetics behind. In a black tank top, he is looking right at the viewer, teary-eyed. If we take a peek at the two previous album covers again, he is looking down in the first one, while facing straight in the second. With him looking up in Hurry Up Tomorrow, it also ties to the Hell/Purgatory/Heaven three-part story, his gaze being a reflection of his state of mind in each project.
It might be his simplest cover so far, in terms of effects, lighting, or textures. Even if it’s not the most intricate visually, it is fitting for what it represents in his discography. He expressed wanting to close this chapter of his career because he felt that he had said everything the character had to say. I think this cover represents that, no graphics, specific edits, or outfits. It is just him. Ughhh, how I wish they kept this cover over the latest one! You guys know I love a good scream, but it doesn’t seem as meaningful as this one.
I do understand why they would end up selecting the latest version; it’s like a poster, especially because of the graphic design. They might have seen it as an early promo for the film? Choices! Best believe I switched covers on iTunes as soon as the album dropped.
THE MUSIC VIDEOS
Music videos are a dying art. I will be the last music video supporter standing if I need to! If music videos have no fans, then I’m dead. This specific segment will, you guessed it, go over music videos of the album I’m rambling about, and sometimes performances, if gaggy.
With the visuals this era… I’ve been disappointed! There’s a LOT, but the meticulous storytelling he managed to create with the music gets lost in the images. He first teased the album with these two exciting videos, recreating scenes from the previous chapters in 3D, and introducing the character of this cycle, the child. Unfortunately, we won’t see him again for a while, and the stories go in many different places.
In the video for the scrapped lead Dancing In The Flames, The Weeknd is, of course, driving. Unfortunately for him, the roof of his convertible is down, and the weather is quite extreme, with rain and thunder. He gets into an accident, flies out of his car, gets back up, and runs towards the sun of a new day. He falls to his knees, faints, and thankfully, an ambulance is already here. There are some great ideas there, but the images are too clear and precise, making it all a little goofy. The jig is up; it was an iPhone advertising all along, which explains the sanitized pictures.
The videos for Timeless and São Paulo, the two pre-release singles, are bleak. The former is him and Carti lipsyncing in a dark warehouse with girls dancing around them for 4 minutes. Okay? I thought we moved on from that! A gorgeous set of a city, with billboards, rocks, and a giant pair of sunglasses, does appear, but only for a few seconds. What was that about? Meanwhile, with the second video, we follow a pregnant Anitta in NYC. She’s wearing black lingerie, with black thighs and high heels. One minute in, she lies down in front of a fountain and her belly suddenly has a pair of lips and teeth and all, and is lipsyncing to The Weeknd’s part. She continues walking in the streets, she lies on top of a black car, licks the car, while her belly is still singing. It’s trippy, but why? For the shock factor, probably. At the very least, they could have waited a bit before showing her pregnancy, reveal her humongous belly later, and THEN reveal its mouth. The idea of the pregnancy itself makes sense with the rebirth the album is trying to convey, but why would Anitta be pregnant with him? And the racy lyrics coming from the baby/creature inside of her is also a choice lmao. I don’t think they knew what they wanted to do for the album just yet when they shot these two videos. The late change in the album cover and the differences between the first physical pressings and the digital release might also show that they were working on it until the very last moment.
The day the album came out, he performed Open Hearts on Jimmy Kimmel. Not only is the performance itself great, but he also managed to bring the story that he wants to share back to the forefront. Look-wise, The Weeknd is wearing the hooded coat with gold embroidery that he first wore for his performance in Brazil, and that he will wear for the rest of the videos. At the end of the performance, he takes off his glasses to an empty audience, with a child clapping by himself. The kid runs away into a corridor that leads to a whimsical, fantastical world. He follows him.
LOVE the fact that they used stop-motion animation to create this creepy, dark, organic world, but also to give life to the character of the child. The same team worked on the video for Red Terror, where we follow him running away from the monsters and shadows of the dark forest. The textures and colors look amazing, it’s weird in the best ways, and it makes it possible for The Weeknd to interact with the child he used to be. In the short film released through Complex, Remember To Enjoy The Light Before It’s Gone, a conversation between the two takes place. These videos are my favorites of the whole project; it’s gloomy, it’s surreal, but it's beautiful.
The music video for Open Hearts picks up where we left him in Dancing In The Flames, with the ambulance. Unfortunately, this is also an Apple advertisement, this time for their Vision Pro silly device. You can tell it was not made for a regular screen; the rhythm of it all is so slow. It’s wide, long sequences, with cars on the road, horses running, a crowded venue with everybody lighting up their phones. I guess you’re supposed to move around in this environment if you do own the device, but for regular YouTube viewing, there’s just no editing or flow to it. It’s meant to be grand, a trip into dimensions and realities, with The Weeknd being dragged out of the ambulance into a show, where another version of him is performing on stage, but it falls flat. Cry For You at least has some pretty textures and effects going on, with an actual rhythm. He is wearing his signature hooded coat while Chxrry22, the video vixen of the day, is walking around pretty, crying her mascara off, before liters of blood come out of her eyes. I don’t know if they needed ALL that blood, but it’s more efficient than half of the other videos they served.
The ones for Drive and I Can’t Wait To Get There are glorified trailers for the movie. They don’t give too much away, at least nothing we didn’t already know. I do enjoy the graphic design work in the latter, with the red credits rolling over the first scene of the movie, I assume.
While they managed to tell us a cohesive, heartfelt, personal story with the songs, the videos are all over the place… The stellar videos for Dawn FM might have raised my expectations too high! I didn’t know I had it so good.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s such a rare and interesting approach to listen to an album knowing it’s the last we’re ever going to get. It’s very ambitious on the artist’s part because they have no choice but to deliver. While I do think the tracklist could have done with some editing (who outside of the fans will listen to the whole 25 tracks?), I’m impressed by its consistency. Every song has a purpose in the overall story, and some of my favorite moments are the instrumental bits that tie it all together. The production work is immaculate. There are also a lot of collaborators in the project, the most in his discography, some featured, some credited. Justice, Anitta, Travis Scott, Florence Welch, Future, Playboi Carti, Chxrry22, LDR, Giorgio Moroder… all supporting The Weeknd, bringing their craft to the story without taking the spotlight. It all flows flawlessly; it’s rare, even for artists of his caliber, to have such a precise, sonic vision.
Wanting to quit when you’re at your peak is bold, and I don’t think most people would be able to understand. How can one be sure that this is the best they can ever do? Of course, this doesn’t mean that he’s quitting music altogether, but he’s putting an end to the project where most people know and like him from. I’m excited to see how the rebrand will go down and how different his output will be.
Halsey asked us beautifully on The Great Impersonator: “Does a story die with its narrator?”, and while her perspective was different, I mean she actually thought she was going to die, it’s an idea that has haunted me ever since. I believe stories live on through the listeners, and The Weeknd’s work will remain with us for a long, long time for sure.
My Trinity: Wake Me Up/Big Sleep/I Can’t Wait To Get There
And we’re done with the January projects I got into! We’ll see if I manage to keep the same rhythm for the rest of the releases of the year… February has been especially STACKED! Next up is Oklou’s debut, is it really?, Choke Enough. I’m impressed by the waves the project has been able to make online, but the music truly is that good.