The Weeknd Reveals ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ Album Cover, Launches Preorder Ahead of São Paulo Concert Livestream
Abel Tesfaye’s evocative new album art arrives the day of his one-night-only show.
The Weeknd, aka Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, at Cannes Film Festival 2023.
Rocco Spaziani/Archivio Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
The Weeknd unveiled the striking album cover for Hurry Up Tomorrow, the final part of a trilogy that began with 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM, over the weekend.
“ALBUM COVER,” he captioned the art, which he revealed on social media Saturday (Sept. 7) along with a Hurry Up Tomorrow preorder link.
The Hurry Up Tomorrow album cover is a headshot of Abel Tesfaye, stunning in its simplicity. The viewer’s eye focuses on his — they’re fixed in a harrowing stare and skillfully lit. He looks like he’s holding back tears. Wearing a classic black tank with only the straps visible in the frame, he’s perched in front of darkness and leaning forward. It’s an evocative portrait.
Billboard reached out to a rep for Tesfaye to inquire about the photographer behind the cover shot, but as of press time didn’t get a response.
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The preorder for Hurry Up Tomorrow launched on Saturday via The Weeknd’s webstore, with a first pressing vinyl available for $33 and a first pressing CD for $12 (limit four per customer for each).
The album’s release date has not yet been confirmed.
Hurry Up Tomorrow was announced on Sept. 4, with a visual teaser and a press release statement explaining its place in The Weeknd’s trilogy as “the creative apex of the project, serving as the third and final chapter crafted with existential and self-referential themes as seen with the latest visionary teasers that have set fans ablaze with anticipation for this concluding installment.”
The album cover followed on Sept. 7, the date of The Weeknd’s anticipated livestream from São Paulo, where he’s performing a special one-night-only concert at Estádio MorumBIS. (Watch below.)
Tesfaye composed the central song of his upcoming album in São Paulo just under a year ago, when his After Hours Til Dawn Tour brought him to the city in October for a two-night stint at Allianz Parque, Billboard Brazil first reported.
Of what’s to come — the new show and Hurry Up Tomorrow — he told Billboard Brazil, “There is always pressure to surpass my last project. Growth is important. Sometimes it may not be what people want to hear from me at the moment, but when the body of work is complete, I hope they can appreciate what I have been trying to achieve. I have been working on this discography for a long time. It was all planned.”
“I always try to achieve something that I haven’t done before musically,” he added. “Sometimes it may not be clear on the first listen [to the album], but fans seem to figure it out over time.”
Stream his concert special, live from São Paulo, courtesy of his YouTube channel (video embedded below) starting at 8 p.m. ET tonight (Sept. 7).
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