The Weeknd has teased a return to music with a sequel to ‘After Hours’ and ‘Dawn FM’.
READ MORE: The Weeknd – ‘Dawn FM’ review: soulful star meets a new day with hope and hindsight
The singer – real name is Abel Tesfaye – took to his official social media accounts to tease his sixth album, hinting that the LP will mark the end of his ‘After Hours’/’Dawn FM’ trilogy.
His posts featured the two album covers from 2020 and 2022 respectively, followed by a photo with a question mark. The caption for the post read “3”.
The singer also took to X/Twitter to retweet a post that read: “Pain, regret, rebirth” with three different silhouettes of the singer, the most recent showing him as a child against a purple backdrop.
pain, regret, rebirth. pic.twitter.com/1RgHSN4DuJ
— The Weeknd Access (@WeekndAccess) January 6, 2024
Similarly, in 2022 he tweeted: ‘I wonder… did you know you’re experiencing a new trilogy?,” shortly after the release of ‘Dawn FM’, hinting that a third album would be in the works to close out this era.
i wonder… did you know you’re experiencing a new trilogy? pic.twitter.com/G5TfjvJVyM
— Abel Tesfaye (@theweeknd) January 10, 2022
Fans began to speculate what the third and final album of the trilogy, with many comparing it to Dante’s epic, The Divine Comedy, which sees a man make his way through the inferno, purgatory and paradise.
The Weeknd previously described the album’s concept in a statement as a state of purgatory—a journey towards the “light at the end of a tunnel”, with fans believing that the upcoming album could be something that refers to an after life.
One fan took to Reddit with the theory that The Weeknd may have hinted at the title of the album on his ‘Dawn FM’ track ‘Every Angel Is Terrifying’.
The track features an advertisement promoting something called “After Life,” which the narrator says is “intense, graphic, sexy, euphoric, provocative, edgy, thought-provoking, technically and visually stunning,” leading fans to believe that ‘After Life’ will be the name of the album.
In a four-star review of ‘Dawn FM’, NME shared: “[The album] feels like the first steps on a journey for The Weeknd to find peace with himself; perhaps next time we hear from him, he’ll be fully embracing the light of day.
In other news, last month, Fortnite confirmed The Weeknd as the first headlining act for its new Festival game mode. His 2021 LP ‘The Highlights’ earned the number one spot on the top 10 albums of 2023 according to BPI.
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