Change The Record: The Weeknd – Hurry Up Tomorrow

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed something this long and gotten writer’s block, so I’m glad I’m finally living up to tradition again. After an album released so late in 2024, it’s basically a 2025 album–and a 2025 album that was recorded in 2014–it’s about time I review something actually recorded and released this year. What better album to kick off this dumbass year than the last album of an artist’s career, right? Can’t start something without something else ending first.

The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, is an artist I like but never truly loved—always skating by my radar on great singles and decent enough album deep cuts, but never sticking with me too hard. The closest he ever got was with his “Trilogy” series of mixtapes–“House Of Balloons,” “Thursday,” and “Echoes Of Silence,” which all captured this certain lo-fi, ambient, gothic slice of alternative R&B that was extremely captivating and immediately gave The Weeknd a recognizable sound and voice. Throughout the years since those mixtapes, however, it felt like his music was more commercializing those sounds instead of capitalizing on them, with the blown-out bass and 808s contributing more to earache than the great vibes he was capable of.

This all took a turn with the announcement of a new trilogy that would also mark the end of his stint under the name “The Weeknd,” starting with the album “After Hours.” It made a sharp left turn into ‘80s revival, gloomy R&B-tinged synthpop. And you know what? It worked very well. Now, without any expectations placed on him, Abel was able to experiment and play around with whatever he wanted, making intense and rich tracks, collaborating with Daniel Lopatin, starring in a very bad TV show directed by the “Euphoria” guy. And, yeah, while not all his experimentations were great, they did at least point in a unique direction.

The second album of the trilogy, “Dawn FM,” dug deeper in that regard, being an even harder pastiche of the ‘80s, venturing further into his own flaws and personal issues, and with a constant presence of Jim Carrey to boot. It might just be my favorite album of his, loaded front to back with fantastic synthpop.

That all leads us here, with his new and final album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” which, following in the footsteps of the previous two albums, experiments, and digs even deeper into the depths and corners of Abel’s mind. Being a 22-track, one-hour, and 22-minute beast of an album, it’s clear Abel is aiming to make as much of an impactful, artistic statement as he can. If not through emotion, then at least by blunt force. I will likely only be able to scratch the surface here, and I’ll mainly highlight the most notable tracks to me. But to make my opinion clear early on: I highly recommend this album and implore you to listen to it on your own.

The album comes out absolutely swinging with the opening two tracks, starting with the opener “Wake Me Up,” which features production from French house legends Justice. It’s a bold and incredible opener, starting with this ambient, gloomy intro before transitioning into this bleeding heart, bombastic chorus, with Justice providing the perfect backdrop for Abel’s impassioned vocals. This track is followed by what I assume is the album’s big pop banger, “Cry For Me,” which gloriously ups the melodrama for this sweeping, tears-in-the-rain rager, with one of the most passionately dramatic choruses you’ll hear. The first few tracks are an insanely bold and explosive way to start a record like this. From the sample-heavy and distorted “São Paulo,” the atmospheric and echoey “Baptized In Fear,” to the unbelievably good “Open Hearts,” which goes full ‘80s goth synthpop, reminding me at times of Choir Boy, in the best possible way. 

Following such a good run of tracks, we have the first dragger of the album with “Reflections Laughing,” which is just a little too atmospheric and ambient for my taste. And frankly, the Travis Scott feature did not improve it on that front either. Next is “Enjoy The Show,” which feels like a good middle marker for the album, despite being track 10 of 22. It just feels like a track marking progress to keep you prepared for what’s about to come, as well as a transition from the beginning of the album to the next run of tracks. It’s a solid tune with a great chorus, even if it weirdly reminds me of Bo Burnham for some reason. 

The next run of tracks begins with the solid, if not too memorable, “Given Up On Me,” before bursting through with the swanky and funky “I Can’t Wait To Get There,” with some of the most hip-rocking productions of the album. As Abel has proven with tracks like “I Can’t Feel My Face,” he knows how to get down when he needs to. The following track, “Timeless,” is a very off-kilter trap banger where Carti gives possibly the most coherent verse of his life, with a voice so deep and commanding I straight up didn’t believe it was him at first. Abel flows over this very odd, plinky production about as impeccably as he can.

“Niagara Falls” and “Take Me Back To LA” follow. “Niagara Falls” is a decent track with some surprisingly vaporwave-y sections throughout–maybe Daniel Lopatin really has rubbed off on him–but it is quickly usurped by “Take Me Back To LA,” an exciting and energetic number, still stained in the bright lights of the LA streets at night, soaked in rain. 

I’ll skip over the next three tracks, which are all pretty good, but frankly, give me less to talk about. Instead, I’ll pick up at the very angelic and tragic “The Abyss,” featuring Lana Del Rey, marking her third collaboration with Abel. While mostly typically gorgeous and intense, it ends with a spectacular, impassioned breaking of emotional barriers at the end as Abel hits some gorgeous high notes with Lana.

Finally, we reach the final three tracks, starting with “Red Terror,” which features a harsh, synth melody throughout that sounds like a malfunctioning radio. While it does flourish pretty well near the middle, it’s not an overall favorite and kinda feels like a drag to get through. In contrast, I quite like the following track “Without A Warning,” which feels like a live show encore, with these booming, echoey vocals, grand horns, and of course, the crowd noise pumped in through the back. I love how it evolves and adapts to itself as the track progresses, ending as this triumphant, raised fist moment with the all-swallowing synths. 

The closer and title track, “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” follows that triumphant sound with the track that sounds the brightest of the whole album. Frosted with a grand, electronic piano main melody that quickly gets drowned out by a cathartically simple synth melody, allowing Abel to vent his heart out, and celebrate his triumph as the album descends into static.

Weirdly, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” reminds me most of Kanye West’s “Donda”. Both are extremely long and all over the place, followed by grand, artistic statements from the 2020s by some of the biggest artists of this generation. While Kanye’s album felt self-indulgent and suffocating in the stench of Kanye’s ego, stopping whatever great moments it had from truly flourishing, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” sounds self-assured in its experimentations and actually lets them breathe. And yeah, although it may let some of these ideas breathe a little longer than needed, it still showed a love of the craft, and more importantly, a dedication to quality that Kanye didn’t really have. 

It makes an interesting contrast to “Echoes Of Silence,” the previous Weeknd project that capped off a trilogy. While “Echoes Of Silence” felt like Abel wallowing in the dark, gothic vibes of his heartbreak with Echoes being the final nail as he sinks, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” feels like a troubled, often unsure but still extremely triumphant last hurrah, as Abel throws all caution to the wind and lets himself be free. I think it makes for a fitting final statement–and an even better album. 

Man, it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed something I dislike. I feel like I should finally do that again. Thankfully, Drake dropped again, so I should be eating good on that promise soon.