Hurry Up Tomorrow

Hurry Up Tomorrow is the final chapter in this trilogy The Weeknd has been carefully crafting since 2020, beginning with the release of After Hours. It has a 1 hour 24 minute runtime consisting of 22 tracks, which may be seem quite risky at first glance, but once you start listening it genuinely flies by.

The album starts off with the track Wake Me Up (feat. Justice). Instantly reeling you in with a sense of existential dread, Abel sings over a muted orchestra, infused with synthesizers, the lyrics "No afterlife, No other side, I'm all alone, when it fades to black". This plays into the theme of this album being the end of The Weeknd persona, which proceeds to be a consistent theme throughout the whole 84 minute runtime. What completely blew me away about this track though was the switch-up after the intro, the track breaks down intro a classic 80s pop, sampling Thriller by Michael Jackson — a bold move. The lyrics stay just as dark as when the track began, but you can't help but dance around to it.

The first track rapidly transitions into the next, titled Cry For Me. This track retains a high-tempo throughout, riding on an incredible beat produced by Metro Boomin. Despite it's high-tempo, it continues the dark lyricism, with this track talking about the difficulty of coping with a relationship gone wrong. What I found more interesting than the song itself was the track after it, titled I Can't F****** Sing. It's only 12 seconds long, but it captures the moment that inspired the album — the aftermath of The Weeknd losing his voice on stage. I believe this serves as the first major tell for what the listener is about to experience.

The next big moment in the track list I want to mention is track 6 and 7, titled Baptized In Fear / Open Hearts. Track 6 completely halts the rapid tempo of the previous few tracks, breaking down into a devastating ballad about the Canadian's struggle with sleep paralysis — to be specific, it focuses on one horrific experience that nearly cost him his life. He discusses falling asleep in the bathtub, but his sleep paralysis keeps him fully present and unable to move. With death imminent, he begins to think about all the regrets he's had in his life, he tries to "remember everything that my preacher said" in attempt to comfort himself. He even begins to mock himself, remembering all the times he's nearly died previously, this is the way he's going to go out? Paralyzed in the tub? He believes he sees figures in the corner mocking him too.

This traumatic experience continues throughout the track, but a glimmer of hope appears. The Weeknd begins to hear voices telling him to carry on, to stay alive and save himself. The lyric "Voices'll tell me that I should carry on" is repeated in the outro, alongside a rising melody that eventually leads into one of the greatest transitions I have ever heard — that is no exaggeration.

Open Hearts is an absolutely stunning track produced by Max Martin and Oscar Holter. It is a piece of synth-pop perfection that discusses the difficulty in falling in love again, and I think the relatable nature of this track is what makes it hit so hard. Many of us have had those attachment issues after someone has broken our heart, it makes opening yourself up to love again so incredibly difficult. As the track goes on, you can sense Abel letting his guard down, letting himself be loved again. He sings "Falling, angels call my name / But the things you say / Keeps me alive again", a beautiful set of lyrics that show how the joy this new person brings saves him from the darkest thoughts he's experiencing.

Three highlights isn't enough to do this album justice, but I like to keep these posts relatively short. That being said, my last highlight isn't a track, it's the production throughout the entire album. The instrumentation and sounds brought to this album were simply incredible. Nearly entirely produced by Mike Dean, The Weeknd, and OPN, Hurry Up Tomorrow is a cinematic experience in audio form.

I hope you enjoyed reading this one, I'm still working out my writing style for these posts — it's way harder than I expected :`)