The Weeknd ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ [Album Review]
The Weeknd’s latest album, seemingly a farewell, is an interesting body of work, through the ears of a listener who taps in and out on most of The Weeknd’s catalog. Often reminded of songs when heard randomly, diving into ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ without the crowd of noise, screaming out how great the music is, offers a great listening experience, when seeing the early begins from ‘House of Balloons’ (repackaged as Trilogy) to the latest offering.
Immediately drawn in with the album’s opening “Wake Me Up” which contains an interpolation of “Thriller” performed by Michael Jackson and a sample of “Main Title” (From The Motion Picture Scarface) performed by Giorgio Moroder. The overall theme and tone of the album gave a feeling of a score. With a 22-track album, that has a runtime of about the length of a movie, coming in about 90 minutes, the story being told is one of intrigue. Digested in parts, the first 11 songs flowed so well that pausing and returning left the ending 11 songs to feel like a second act or the second disc of a double album. Upon further research, finding out that a musical psychological thriller film is expected to release May 2025, is icing on the cake with listening to the album.
Hurry Up Tomorrow showcases The Weeknd’s versatility, seamlessly a reminder of the somewhat nostalgic memories of the experience of hearing House of Balloons for the first time, which extended into Thursday and Echoes of Silence. Lost to the commercialization and the shift in sounds and expectations. This album returns The Weeknd to that place and makes revisiting the journey that brought us here more worthwhile. Having missed a lot of the complete body of works, Hurry Up Tomorrow revitalizes the feeling of wanting to experience the story in full, and filling in the missing pieces of albums in between the Trilogy and this body of work.
Resonating with the feeling of reaching an end or slipping away, or leaving a moment that exceeded expectation and letting it—as a work of art, be, without repainting, or making subtle changes or added anything more. The Weeknd delivers on his final act. The closing track seamlessly transitions into the opening seconds of “High for This,” the first track from House of Balloons, closing this chapter but making a brilliant ending credit that leaves you wanting to go back and replay the first film—album, in this case.
