Review of 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' by The Weeknd

Hurry Up Tomorrow is another lengthy 80s-flavoured synthpop album. It’s also The Weeknd’s final album.

Goodbye The Weeknd. Hello The Weekdy? I don’t know what Abel has planned next, but he has claimed that he is killing his Weekend alter ego, and will continue making new music either under his real name or another alias. I’m kinda excited to see where he goes next, because I want to see him try something new. In fact, I didn’t know if I would enjoy another album of New Wave revival. After Hours and Dawn FM were fun, but we’ve had our fill of 80s nostalgia, and I can’t stomach anymore.

As a result, I wasn’t encouraged by opening track ‘Wake Me Up’, which is basically just 80s synthpop, complete with an instrumental section mid-way through that’s been nabbed directly from Michael Jackson’s Thriller. However, ‘Cry For Me’ drifts away from this slightly by segueing into a Metro Boomin trap beat. We then get a weird 12 second interlude titled ‘I Can’t Fucking Sing’ (a Bob Dylan tribute?). Then we launch into the brilliantly loopy ‘Sao Paulo’ (the video is pretty loopy too), which is a Brazilian funk banger with choppy guest vocals from Anitta. Is this the direction Abel is going to go in next? I wouldn’t mind it!

The album continues to be mainly an 80s-flavoured synthpop record, but there are enough sonic detours like ‘Sao Paulo’ to keep it feeling fresh and varied. Unlike Dawn FM that had very few guest features, Hurry Up Tomorrow is also brimming with guests to further add dynamics to the record. It almost feels like a sendoff party. Unfortunately, many of the guests invited are artists that I’m not particularly fond of. However, Abel somehow manages to bring out the best in them. I didn’t know Future could sing like that on ‘Enjoy The Show’. And it is admittedly impressive how Playboi Carti manages to sound like 5 different rappers on ‘Timeless’. Florence Welch’s voice even sounds quite pretty on ‘Reflections Laughing’ (I usually can’t stand her warbling). 

As for Abel’s vocals, they are reliably good. There aren’t many strong hooks this time around, but he makes up for this with some very emotive performances that vary from a delicate whimper on ‘Niagara Falls’ to a loud belting finish on closer ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’. The lyrics and track titles mostly seem to relate to the theme of closure and rebirth. It’s a fitting selection of synthpop swan songs that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would.  

★★★★☆

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