“All I have is my legacy,” Abel Tesfaye sings over the funereal opening bars of “Wake Me Up”. Produced by French electronic pioneers Justice, it’s a scene-setting moment for what, it soon emerges, is the Canadian artist’s most ambitious project to date – a feature film-length album that supposedly serves as the final chapter for his enigmatic alter ego The Weeknd. Later this year, he’ll star opposite Wednesday actor Jenna Ortega and Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan in an actual feature film inspired by this record – a psychological thriller underpinned by his restless, sprawling score.
A noted cinephile, Tesfaye has always incorporated film influences into his work. His debut album, 2013’s culture-shifting Kiss Land, tapped into the kind of jittery, menacing paranoia that directors such as John Carpenter or David Cronenberg made their calling card. Hurry Up Tomorrow’s predecessor, 2022’s Dawn FM, enlisted Jim Carrey as a creepy radio host and borrowed the tagline of 1987’s Less Than Zero (“It only looks like the good life”) for his track of the same name.
