The Weeknd’s Grand Finale – An End of an Era For R&B -

By Tim McGuire

Hurry Up Tomorrow had a mountain of hype behind it before its official release. Not only does it end the trilogy that After Hours and Dawn FM started, but it also ends the era of The Weeknd. From this point on, no more music will be released under the name “The Weeknd.” With that in mind, it makes sense that this album is a grand finale of sorts, with a long runtime of one and half hours and encompassing 22 songs overall. Fans of the famed R&B singer have a lot to enjoy until they find out where Abel ventures next.

With the success of the prior two albums before Hurry Up Tomorrow, many were expecting the final third of the trilogy to be another slam dunk. “Timeless” and “São Paulo” were released as the first two singles of the album, and they were met with mixed reviews. As for me, I’m on the side of those who did not enjoy the singles; I found “São Paulo” to be annoyingly repetitive for too long, and “Timeless” to be one of the most forgettable songs on the album despite a feature from Playboi Carti. With two worrisome singles, my expectations faltered a bit, but thankfully the full album was able to pick up some slack.

In fact, I would say a lot of the slack is picked up immediately by the first track, “Wake Me Up.” Listening to the ethereal introduction build into a groovy jam courtesy of French electronic house duo Justice was the perfect way to start the album and got me excited to see what else was in store. Another track I would like to highlight is “Open Hearts” as I think that it has potential to become the smash hit of the album. It’s almost baffling that The Weeknd didn’t choose this song as a single. The 80s sound would have been a great way to transition fans from his previous albums to his next album, but I digress. The accessible sound for fans and newcomers is palpable and is a great addition to this track list.

While these highlights are much appreciated because of how long the album is, there are also some lowlights that need to be addressed. While I certainly understand and can even agree with why Hurry Up Tomorrow ended up longer than his previous works, there are a couple songs that fall flat and end up adding nothing to the album. This is most present near the middle of the album, where we get songs like “Give Me Mercy” and “Reflections Laughing.” The former lacks anything to stand out 17 songs deep into the album, and the latter is fine on its own, but gets dragged down by a feature from Travis Scott. However, I will note that “I Can’t Wait To Get There” does stand tall as a great song in this portion of the album.

Travis’ feature “Reflections Laughing” also shouts out another issue with the album: the (vocal) features. This song shows The Weeknd’s mental state after infamously having to cancel his show mid-performance to protect his voice in California’s SoFi stadium. Halfway through the song, Travis Scott, with his voice pitched down way further than he needs, raps about… well, his “lavish life type of estate” life. I assumed Travis would follow the topic of controversial concerts, but I was disappointed by just another Travis verse.

The other features (Playboi Carti on “Timeless,” Future on “Enjoy The Snow,” and Lana Del Ray on “The Abyss”) also feel inconsequential, failing to contribute anything to their respective tracks. This just makes it feel like it’s wasting time on an already long album.Despite how numerous my complaints may seem, I still do think this album as a whole is pretty solid. I may not be the biggest fan of The Weeknd, so I assume there may be some things here that I need prior context to understand, but I still enjoyed some of the high points the album reached. To balance out the pros and cons in this review, I’ll point out “Without a Warning” as a great penultimate track and acknowledge the smooth transitions between many of the songs. These transitions do give Hurry Up Tomorrow some more cohesion, but a lot of average cuts drag this album below its true potential.