Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, has been in the spotlight as fans awaited his most recent and final album, “Hurrry Up Tomorrow.”
The delay, due to the Los Angeles wildfires, had fans sitting on the edge of their seats, spending another week impatiently waiting for his final release as “The Weeknd.”
“I think it was a great send-off to [The Weeknd],” said OH junior Anthony Martel. “I think he ended it the best he could, as his current alias I think it sums up his whole career very well.”
On Jan. 31, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” was officially released on all streaming platforms. Jittery fans quickly took to their phones as they listened to the album for the first time, which consists of 22 songs that lasted around an hour and a half.
“I really like the whole album,” said OH senior Isabella Johnson. “Yes, some were lackluster, but I don’t think there is a song I don’t like.”
Fans quickly started posting them dancing and lipsyncing to some of the more popular songs on TikTok, like “The Abyss,” featuring Lana Del Rey, or “São Paulo,” featuring Anitta.
“‘The Abyss’, I really like. The melody and that song really amplify the theme of ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ as a whole,” said Martel.
Features such as Playboi Carti in the first hit single of the album “Timeless” truly set the tone for the album.
“‘Timeless’ is my favorite song off the album- it’s basic but I feel It encapsulates the overall theme of the album,” said OH senior Emma Garcia.
With overwhelming support on the first day of release, some felt it was almost incomplete with some of the songs and features on the album, which sent some fans into a frenzy.
“My least favorite song is ‘Big Sleep’ because of the feature, and sounds extremely strange with autotune,” said Martel.
Overall, the album was an overnight success with 490,500 first-week units and 359,00 in sales. Making it considered the best first-week numbers of his career and three times more than the predecessor ‘Dawn FM,’ according to Billboard.
“I think the transitions through the whole album really tie it together,” said Johnson.
The Weeknd has impacted the music industry so greatly since his popularity more recently. Fans and music lovers alike as extremely excited to see where The Weeknd’s future takes him as he transitions into his newer, authentic persona as Abel.
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