The Weeknd appears to be teasing a new era through a series of cryptic social media posts.
The artist – real name Abel Tesfaye – had been teasing his return as far back as January, suggesting that his upcoming sixth record would be the last volume of an ‘After Hours’/’Dawn FM’ trilogy. He posted 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 himself, the most recent showing him as a child against a purple backdrop.
Now, a new teaser is suggesting that a new era is imminent. A short video was posted to The Weeknd’s social media in which he stares with glassy eyes at the camera. It was accompanied by a photo of some woods at night.
Ready? pic.twitter.com/04lIxrRrxq
— The Weeknd News (@NewsWeeknd) July 2, 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.
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 afterlife.
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.
Meanwhile, in April, The Weeknd pledged $2million (£1.6million) from his XO Humanitarian Fund to help feed families in war-torn Gaza.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), the donation will provide over 1,500 metric tons of fortified wheat flour, which will be used to make roughly 18 million loaves of bread that can help feed more than 157,000 Palestinians for a month.