The Weeknd, “Hurry Up Tomorrow.”

The Weeknd has had a fascinating career trajectory, entering the alternative R&B scene in the early 2010s as a mysterious crooner and becoming one of the world’s biggest pop stars. His hits include “Can’t Feel My Face” and “Blinding Lights,” Spotify’s most-streamed song of all time.

Safe to say, Abel Tesfaye had a lot of expectations to live up to on Hurry Up Tomorrow. The album, which he’s said is his last as The Weeknd, wraps up a trilogy of ‘80s-inspired projects that started with 2020’s After Hours and continued on 2022’s Dawn FM. It also comes after a period without his typical acclaim, with controversy surrounding his participation in TV show “The Idol” and a lack of usual widespread love for some recent singles. Was The Weeknd losing his creativity and ending his success streak?

The new album is here, and the music speaks for itself—The Weeknd is as creative, and will hopefully be as successful, as ever with this one. The massive record is expansive and intriguing, blending synth-packed nostalgia with futuristic ingenuity.

That sense of retro-futurism holds together the otherwise versatile genre-jumping on the album, like when “Cry For Me” blends shimmering ‘80s synths with modern, thundering beats. Opening track “Wake Me Up” channels Michael Jackson’s peak pop, going full-fledged “Thriller” mode, a style The Weeknd pulls off with ease. “I Can’t Wait to Get There,” on the other hand, is a neo-soul ray of sunshine within a dark, moody tracklist.

He’s as pop as he’s ever been, but he’s also as experimental as he’s ever been. The project explores synthwave and chipmunk soul, trap and radio pop, with both unexpected creativity and a clear mastery for crafting pop hooks. The record also never feels bloated—a considerable feat for 22 tracks.

Single “São Paulo” includes synth bolts that hit like knife stabs, with some signature The Weeknd falsetto. In his typical fashion, he sings about sex with an underlying darkness: “Baby, ride me ’til the darkness of the night/ Kill me softly like you want me euthanized.” Even with all these canon The Weeknd elements, the electronic and chaotic song stands out as something new in his discography, bursting with the vibrancy of São Paulo nightlife.

The catchy, dreamy R&B that The Weeknd has perfected over the past 10 years returns on “Baptized in Fear,” which finds him reflecting on the drug use that he sang about all over his first few mixtapes. “All thе times I dodged death/ This can’t be the way it ends,” he sings. The songwriting is some of his most poignant and revealing, though the on-the-nose and overly-repeated “fear” and “my dear” rhyme detracts from the song’s gravitas.

Acoustic guitar comes as a surprise on “Reflections Laughing,” a psychedelic switch after the album’s electronic first half. The song warps and bends, including a Travis Scott feature and a recording of a girl pleading with The Weeknd to not revert to his old ways. “Now you’re back, drowning in that shit,” she says as we hear drinking. “Don’t let this industry break you, baby,” she begs.

The project’s dark centerpiece is “Given Up On Me,” a nearly-six-minute track full of twists and vulnerable honesty. “I’ve been lying to your faces, yeah I’ve been always wasted/ It’s too late to save me,” he sings. This type of dire storytelling has always been an underappreciated aspect of The Weeknd’s music, but it’s especially personal here.

The end of the album dives into “The Abyss,” with a stunning Lana Del Rey feature and some of The Weeknd’s most captivating vocals. That’s especially the case on the title track closing tune, a heartbreaking but hopeful synth-soaked power ballad with uniquely candid penmanship. “But now I’m drowning in the same tub where I learned how to swim/ With my mother trying to save every ounce of my innocence,” he belts. But that’s just today, and there’s no reason tomorrow can’t be a fresh start.

“I hope that I’ll find what I’m looking for,” he concludes. “I want heaven when I die/ I want to change.”

Hurry Up Tomorrow is yet another achievement that solidifies The Weeknd’s hitmaking power. “All I have is my legacy,” he sings on the opening track. With this album, he’s made that legacy’s power undeniable.