Hurry Up Tomorrow is the sixth album from Canadian singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye, better known by many as The Weeknd. This album closes out the trilogy of records that was preceded by 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM. In addition, this project will be his final project under the name The Weeknd, so there definitely will be a new direction he goes in after this I think.

    Given how long this album is at 22 songs and nearly 90 minutes, I couldn’t approach it the way I usually do on my website, which is to go track by track and dissect the entire record, so I’m gonna try to keep it shorter this time. I love the continuation of the themes from the previous two entries in the trilogy, while also exploring the themes of redemption, guilt, addiction, and rebirth. The album also dives into a lot of heartbreak The first two tracks on this thing are absolutely phenomenal, especially “Cry For Me.” I love the heavy synth production and experimental nature of that track, and Abel’s vocals are amazing as they are on all of this album. Bringing in the legend Mike Dean to handle most of the production on this record was a genius move. He’s every musician’s favorite producer from what I’ve seen as he’s worked with Kanye West, Travis Scott, and even Lana Del Rey. I like that Abel used the 2022 performance incident where he lost his voice and the intense anxiety and fear he must’ve felt in that moment as heavy inspiration for this record. “Sāo Paulo,” featuring Anitta has this really experimental Brazilian funk sound that goes through multiple phases. “Baptized in Fear,” has this slow synth wave vibe that perfectly compliments Abel’s confessions about his struggles with addiction. This album creates such a dark and haunting atmosphere not only instrumentally, but with Abel’s dark lyrics and emotional vocal delivery. The features on this record are mostly very strong, I really liked the Travis Scott, Lana Del Rey, and Florence + The Machine inclusions on this project. Future’s feature kinda disappointed me, as he’s done better tracks with Abel, in comparison to this one, and his vocal delivery is just a bit weird. I do really like the soulful sample of “Homemade Gun,” on that track though. “Given Up On Me,” feels like a call back to “The Hills,” in a way, as Abel’s mournful vocals go into how he’s failed to become a better person. The Metro Boomin assist with the producing makes it an absolute masterpiece. 

    The two-part nature of the track make it feel almost operatic at times with the low-key pianos in the second half. And while I could talk for paragraphs about how strong of a singer Abel is and how exquisite the tracks are lyrically and instrumentally, this album suffers from one major weakness, and that is that it is way too long. Hurry Up Tomorrow would’ve greatly benefited from some quality control. I had the same feeling when I first heard Kanye West’s Donda, there’s a lot of great content, but there’s also a lot of needlessly extra tracks on this thing. It’s also not super cohesive at times, as the sound is a lot more varied than an album like Beauty Behind the Madness or After Hours, for example. Those are pretty much the main gripes I have with this thing, as for the most part I thoroughly enjoyed it, it’s cinematic and breathtakingly beautiful quite frequently. I really respect the fact that Abel took risks with this thing, as he went in a slightly different direction than his last few releases at times. The synth-heavy production and inclusion of sampling creates this sound that really feels like Abel’s and nobody else’s and the lyrical content is strong. This was a strong ending to the name of The Weeknd, and while it’s not a perfect album, it’s still a great one.

Overall Score: 8/10

Favorite Tracks: “Cry For Me,” “Wake Me Up,” “Take Me Back to LA,” “Sāo Paulo,” “Baptized in Fear,” “The Abyss,”

Least Favorite Tracks: “Timeless,” “Enjoy The Show,”

Listen: https://youtu.be/ljxYE-aJD3A?si=IwmBfeMhsALh14cj

Genres: Synthpop/Alternative R&B/Synthwave