Today, I will be reviewing The Weeknd’s sixth and “final” studio album, Hurry Up Tomorrow. Released on January 31, 2025, this album marks a significant evolution in Abel Tesfaye’s musical journey. It serves as the final installment in a trilogy that began with After Hours from 2020 and continued with Dawn FM in 2022, with the trilogy being a reference as well as a unique parody to Dante’s The Divine Comedy, which documented Dante’s journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. This album dives deep into themes of fame, self-destruction, and redemption. Musically, it traverses The Weeknd’s most diverse sounds yet by combining his past genres into one album while bringing new sounds at the same time. So, how good is Hurry Up Tomorrow, exactly? Spoiler: It’s really good.
The album opens with “Wake Me Up,” an easy-to-listen track that eases you right into the album. The sound is very familiar with The Weeknd’s other works, but with renowned French producer Justice on the production, it becomes a unique opening track. The progression is slow at first, but it seamlessly drops into an energetic groove, perfectly embodying the title of the song.
Even as early on as track 2, you realize this album is filled to the brim with exciting and seamless transitions that weave almost every song together like the entire thing is just a movie. This element of the album really brings out a cinematic and epic feel to everything, There are even 2 interlude tracks specifically dedicated to transitioning between songs, which aren’t included in the review. “Cry For Me” is emotional but also very harsh on the vocals and production, especially as the song amps up in the second half. This sense of raw emotion emitted from the song and its overall catchiness is what made it quickly catch on and become one of the most streamed songs of the album’s debut.
Taking heavy inspiration from Brazilian funk and collaborating with famous singer Anitta, this is one of the most unique songs in Tesfaye’s catalog. It’s one of those songs that makes you tilt your head a little the first time you listen to it, but after a listen or two you start to get it. While Anitta’s feature can be repetitive at times, it doesn’t get into the way enough to be a nuisance, and it’s for sure made up by Tesfaye’s amazing vocal performance.
“Baptized In Fear” is the first slower-paced song of the list, and it is very introspective. Even if you don’t look at the lyrics, you can feel the raw emotion propelling this song, and it is very powerful. Not to mention the hook is still very catchy despite the emotion, this for sure makes it one of my favorites tracks. It also leads into one of the best moments of the entire album, which is the transition from “Baptized In Fear” into the next song: “Open Hearts.”
“Open Hearts” is an example of The Weeknd doing what he excels at. Right away, this track might seem familiar and that’s because it’s very reminiscent of his smash hits from the After Hours project like “Blinding Lights.” So, while the formula remains the same, the falter. There’s just something about the spacey production of these songs that works really well with Abel’s vocals.
Despite being the shortest track of the album at a minute and a half long, “Opening Night” makes full use of its time, and very creative. The highlight of the song is probably the production, the interlude feel of it while still being a song really draws you in and is almost hypnotizing.
If listening to this cinematic album is like watching a movie, then “Reflections Laughing” is like being inside of the movie. By far the most narratively rich song of the entire song, it is so immersive and words cannot describe the atmosphere this song has. The features of the song also fit in perfectly and once you pick up on the story it’s trying to tell its hard to ignore it.
Moving into basically an entirely new genre. “Enjoy the Show” features a soul chop in the production giving it a signature soulful feel, The Weeknd’s delivery is intimate and heartfelt as ever, not to mention an amazing Future verse to add to an already amazing song.
By this point in the album, you realize that Hurry Up Tomorrow never really slows down once, it’s banger after banger and there’s not even breaks between songs with cinematic transitions on almost every track. “Given Up On Me” is the album’s first multiple-phased song, with a more intense and trappy start and shifting into a soft serenade from Tesfaye backed up by gentle piano. The development of the song is so fun to listen to and that’s why it really clicked with me on the first listen.
Moving onto maybe my most favorite song on the album, “I Can’t Wait To Get There” is an absolute masterpiece. With one of the most beautiful beats my ears have touched, The Weeknd flows effortlessly on the track and it is extremely addicting, there is just so much to love about this song, and it is criminally underrated.
One of the leading singles for the album, “Timeless” has generated over 500 million streams on Spotify since its release just a few months ago. Whether it’s because of Carti’s amazing feature, The Weeknd’s vocals, or the enchanting production, it’s hype and popularity are certainly warranted.
“Niagara Falls” features some of the best drums I’ve ever heard, the beat behind is some of the more unique patterns I’ve seen in a while. In fact, even Kanye West tweeted “Drums go crazy on this. I gotta AI them immediately”, making a joke at his controversial use of AI in songs. Aside from that, the vocals remain on top as well as another heavenly transition at the end into “Take Me Back To LA”.
Hearing this track immediately evokes a sense of nostalgia as The Weeknd sings about him missing Los Angeles, hence the name of the song. The production also takes a more chiller and more hopeful tone, reflecting the nostalgia and emotion in Tesfaye’s singing.
Falling into the last leg of the album, “Big Sleep” is the one of the darkest sounding songs of the album. The recognizable synths from Mike Dean prevalent throughout the entire album is no stranger here, and it still slaps no matter how many times Tesfaye works with him, this is enhanced on this track by the revered producer Giorgio Moroder, who just takes the song into a whole different level. The Weeknd also one of his more cinematic vocal performances near the end of the song.
Unfortunately, “Give Me Mercy” doesn’t impress me, and that is hard to say as I really want to believe the album is absolutely perfect since I love The Weeknd so much. While not a bad song by any means, it just sounds rather bland, and in the context of his most experimental and unique albums yet, it is quite a drag to get through. It does have a catchy chorus, but it doesn’t help that the song just sounds like radio music.
Picking back up from “Give Me Mercy”, this song was a song that took me a bit longer to start loving. The slow start and lazy feel can be hard to get accustomed to at first, but upon revisiting it is for sure another gem of the album, with one of my favorite choruses of the tracks as well as beautiful layering between the vocals and the production.
“The Abyss” is everything fans could ask for in the second collaboration between The Weeknd and Lana Del Ray. It is very intense and also features the best progression in the album. And halfway through, when the percussion finally drops, the listening experience is really something else. The Lana Del Rey feature, while not coming in until towards the end of the song, is everything it needs to be, which is perfect.
“Red Terror” starts with very futuristic sounding instrumentals that sets the tone for the rest of the song. While the production on the entire album is top-tier, this song definitely has one of my personal favorite productions. The drops accompanied with Tesfaye’s vocals are the cornerstone and highlight of this song. However, there is a big switch in the latter half, shifting into a dreamy and mysterious interlude mainly comprised of a narrative monologue by Tesfaye.
Even on the last two songs of the 20-song marathon that is Hurry Up Tomorrow, you still just can’t get enough, and the quality remains as strong as the start of the album. “Without a Warning” feels like a sad but also needed preparation for the goodbye towards the persona of “The Weeknd” that Tesfaye is about to send off in the final track. The lyrics, “the crowd will scream, the crowd will scream my name, the crowd will feel, the crowd will feel my pain,” just sends chills down your back listening to it.
The album ends on a very introspective note, and we see The Weeknd being the most vulnerable he’s ever been on this song. Many fans claim they cried when they heard this song for the first time, and it’s not hard to see where they’re coming from. The Weeknd sings about many different aspects of his career and his discontent with his current state, hence why he’s ending the “Weeknd’ persona by finally killing him off and being reborn as just his name: Abel Tesfaye.
Hurry Up Tomorrow stands as The Weeknd’s most cohesive project yet, showcasing his ability to stay consistent and experiment with new sounds and themes. The emotional narrative of the album is his most well-thought-out story yet, creating his most immersive album by far. Abel’s vocal performance delivers on absolutely every song and the production is arguably the most intricate it has ever been in a Weeknd album. Overall, Hurry Up Tomorrow is the perfect finale to the perfect trilogy, and there couldn’t have been a better way to send off Abel’s stage name: The Weeknd.
