Toronto global popstar and 2021 Super Bowl halftime visionary performer, The Weeknd, has officially declared the end of his critically acclaimed After Hours era. Now, the Scarborough-native has begun teasing the rollout to his forthcoming fifth studio album, tentatively titled, The Dawn. Earlier today, the campaign officially kicked off with the release of the new single and video, “Take My Breath.”
The rollout follows a series of tweets that Abel has made over the past months. However, the Canadian superstar really took fans by surprise a few days ago, signifying the start of a new era. On July 29th, he tweeted:
“say your final goodbyes…”
Then he hit fans on August 1st, wiping his Instagram profile to make way for a series of new posts:
“fuck it … IT STARTS TONIGHT.”
Shortly after midnight, The Weeknd released a minute and 40 second video previewing the single which showcased elements of synth pop and electronic dance over a visual sunset. An official announcement was made later that day accompanied by a Tokyo Olympics collaboration video, teasing the August 6th release date. Alongside the teaser video, GQ released an interview where The Weeknd previewed his new music. During the exchange, he stated:
“It’s the album I’ve always wanted to make.”
The announcement also follows The Weeknd’s appearance on the new Belly single “Better Believe,” which also features Young Thug.
While The Dawn has yet to receive an official release date, there’s hope that it will arrive in time for The Weeknd’s upcoming North American tour which begins on January 14th, 2022 in Vancouver. That said, the The After Hours Tour might focus exclusively on material from the After Hours era.
You can check out the full interview with GQ here, and check out the teaser and new video for “Take My Breath” below.
You can follow @TheWeeknd on Instagram.
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