As far as living up to expectations, Hurry Up Tomorrow couldn’t land much closer to what fans had in mind. The final installment of a trilogy that includes After Hours and Dawn FM is predictably opulent, bombastic, and overwrought – the only way the Weeknd would have it. Towering and immersive as it is, with a runtime of 84 minutes, the album also meanders nearly as much as it dazzles, with many of the songs failing to find a point between redemption and repentance. At some points, it finds rapture, then falls back down the rabbit hole. The record’s midsection is tough to endure, but Abel Tesfaye really does save the best for last. Musically, at least – we have to wait and see if the accompanying film, arriving in theaters later this year, will make a difference.
1. Wake Me Up [feat. Justice]
Of course, the Weeknd begins Hurry Up Tomorrow with a vision of the end, and even what comes after it: “No afterlife, no other side.” Synths gleam as his voice broods over a sample of Giorgio Moroder’s Scarface score, until the track snaps back to life with a Justice-assisted beat. The bassline alone is enough to get you excited about the record, even if you’re still daunted by the prospect of listening through it all.
2. Cry for Me
It’s hard to think of a more grating song on the album to pick as a single; if this weren’t a track-by-track review, I doubt I even would have mentioned it. With Metro Boomin and Mike Dean on production, the Weeknd certainly knows how to make an IMAX-sized projection of the most toxic parts of a fraught relationship, but the percussion is so blocky it doesn’t even land on that level. And a few vocal and production tricks do little to make the song’s repeated, self-pitying plea sound any more appealing.
3. I Can’t Fucking Sing
The Weeknd does an admirable job of making his 84-minute epic sound seamless, and ‘I Can’t Fucking Sing’ is part of that effort.
4. São Paolo [feat. Anitta]
It’s not the most innovative take on baile funk, but it is impressive how the Weeknd drags it into his world, shot through with pure lust and unquenchable yearning, exhaustion teetering into chaos. The five-minute runtime may seem overwrought, but it’s justified and actually makes it feel convincing. The better advance single, for sure.
5. Until We’re Skin & Bones
Smart move to put a transitional track after the barrelling noise of ‘São Paolo’, and a sick one at that.
6. Baptized in Fear
“Heartbeat slower,” Weeknd repeats on the track, which is about is about having a near-death experience in the bathtub. It’s a moody and slow-paced Weeknd tune that says moody and slow-paced, if that’s something you’re nostalgic for. It’s a first for this record but most definitely not for the Weeknd, just another paralyzing trip down memory lane.
9. Open Hearts
The Weeknd can wallow in melodramatic balladry all he wants, but teaming with Max Martin injects his shadowy, ominous pop with such an ecstatic rush that it can turn a whole project around. “It’s never easy/ Falling in love again,” Tesfaye sings, no doubt a familiar trope. The song makes it sound possible.
8. Opening Night
This is a longer interlude but no more substantial. Plus, Tesfaye whining about a “chronically online,” overly emotional lover ruining the first of his tour feels unnecessarily specific.
9. ‘Reflections Laughing’ [feat. Travis Scott and Florence + the Machine]
Now this is the way to punch through the mirrored facade of fame, and everyone on the song understands the assignment. The Weeknd is hanging by a thread. Florence Welch, whose powerhouse of a voice is barely audible, supports him through the chorus. Travis Scott, his vocals pitched down, expertly personifies the protagonist’s demons. But it’s the voicemail in the middle of the track – that’s Chxrry22’s voice – that’s the most spine-chilling. A single question is tucked at the end: “What does that shit feel like anyway?” ‘Reflections Laughing’ offers a glimpse.
10. Enjoy the Show [feat. Future]
In other words: Enjoy the Weeknd luxuriating in his own demise over some baffling chipmunk vocals. Future is here to deliver reference to ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ because even Tesfaye can’t withstand this level of self-referentiality. The caustic performance doesn’t gel well with the plush arrangement, even if it’s a deliberate juxtaposition. This one doesn’t need to be five minutes long.
11. Given Up on Me
The beat drop on this one is enticing, though I spent most of the rest of the song contemplating the word “hungriness.” His desperate pleas don’t even have the bite they have on ‘Cry for Me’ – until they disintegrate into the fractured piano jazz of the song’s back end, which is genuinely soul-stirring. Metro Boomin tries and fails to add a real pulse to the song, which subtly drives the point home.
12. I Can’t Wait to Get There
The Weeknd’s metacommentary works better for me when it’s over a cryptically sinister backdrop, less so when it sounds this glossy – let alone self-possessed. Tyler, the Creator did this way better on Chromakopia.
13. Timeless
Again, why was this the big single? Is it just the Playboi Carti feature? Even in the context of the album, there’s barely enough momentum to prop up this kind of soulless flex. Besides, at its best, the Weeknd’s s music sounds compellingly out of time, not timeless. No wonder it wasn’t as big as so many of the Weeknd’s past hits.
14. Niagara Falls
So much of the sample flipping on the album’s R&B ballads is awkward, and this track feels particularly out of place. It ultimately serves its narrative purpose, though, and you gotta hand it to the Weeknd for making immolation sound so opulent.
15. Take Me Back to LA
Calling back to Dawn FM’s ‘Escape From LA’, ‘Take Me Back to LA’ might be one of the most poignant and revealing cuts on the album – and one of the Weeknd’s best ballads. “I put my hand over the fire/ And see if I can still cry/ And that’s when I realize that/ I hate it when I’m by myself,” he signs, unwhiningly. Imagine if he sang this instead at the Grammys.
16. Big Sleep [feat. Giorgo Moroder]
Giorgo Moroder being credited on the song is enough to coax a truly impassioned performance out of Tesfaye, who stands tall against the eerily operatic scale of the song.
17. Give Me Mercy
Max Martin contributes to another one of the album’s brightest moments, though this one’s a little more understated (and better for it). It sounds like something you’d catch playing on 103.5 Dawn FM, and it’d be a hit in a better world.
18. Drive
‘Drive’ continues the record’s strong closing stretch with a sublime melody and the Weeknd regaining hope for freedom. Or… hungriness?
19. The Abyss [feat. Lana Del Rey]
The closer we get to the end of Hurray Up Tomorrow, the more it seems like the Weeknd is willing to give his persona a dignified conclusion – which, of course, makes it all the more likely that he won’t. Lana Del Rey is a familiar voice in the Weeknd’s canon, but hearing a female voice this late into the album is still startling, especially as she repeats, “Is a threat not a promise?” With one of her most dynamic guest performances, she makes it count.
20. Red Terror
The Weeknd lets Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin weave his magic around ‘Red Terror’, even if Tesfaye has to strain to fit his song into it. It’s intriguing – the intersection of stardom and parenthood is certainly a hot topic – but works mostly as a setup for the last two songs.
21. Without a Warning
The Weeknd’s is constantly self-aware through Hurry Up Tomorrow, but the starkness of ‘Without a Warning’ lends the song a different kind of gravity. I mean: “I should have been sober, but I can’t afford to be boring.” The moment the beat drops is goosebump-inducing, but to have it dissolve so quickly is an even bolder move. The sky looks grim, and just for the drama.
22. Hurry Up Tomorrow
“Done with the lies/ I’m done with the loss,” the Weeknd declares on the final track, singing like he’s already on the other side. Defeat has rarely sounded so honest, painless, so heavenly. The acceptance is only a mirage, if you want to believe it, because the song ties right back into House of Balloons’ ‘High for This’ and the cycle remains unbroken. You can, of course, believe otherwise. We knew the main character dies at the end; what we didn’t expect is that Tesfaye would give us a choice in it.