The Weeknd drops title song 'After Hours' from upcoming album, reveals release date and artwork
The Weeknd is back! The singer dropped the title track from his upcoming album 'After Hours', and in addition to being a total bop, it also sees the singer returning to his roots and fans couldn't be happier about it.
Two tracks from the album, 'Heartless' and 'Blinding Lights' have already been released as singles in November, 2019. The music videos for the previously released singles dropped December and January respectively. While 'Heartless' is a trap song that talks about returning to the single life following recent relationships and breakups (including with Selena Gomez), 'Blinding Lights' is a total throwback to the 70s with its noticeable synth-pop sound that provides the perfect backdrop to lyrics that talk about rekindling an old flame (in this case, most likely Bella Hadid) as The Weeknd goes for a joyride through Sin City.
Over the years, we've come to expect a certain level of trippy visuals from The Weeknd's videos that match the subtle allusion to drugs in all his lyrics, and we certainly got that with 'Heartless' and 'Blinding Lights'. But we also got to see the singer take it even further this time around with some stunning production and cinematography as well as storytelling in both music videos.
Leading from 'Heartless' it appears that the Canadian singer is telling a continuous story of a post-breakup trip gone horribly wrong through each successive music video he releases from this album. Given that the released audio for 'After Hours' features a still from 'Blinding Lights' as its cover photo, it's safe to assume the story will continue.
'Heartless' begins, funnily enough, with blinding lights. The Weeknd takes us along for a ride as he appears to go on a bender through the video - alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, gambling, and beyond. The single life, it would seem, beckoned The Weeknd a little too strongly.
We end with him licking a frog, hallucinating about turning into a reptile, and throwing up. Which might sound totally odd until you connect the dots and realize that the frog represents a drug and indicates that the bender might not end well, which, as the end of 'Heartless' and the start of 'Blinding Lights' confirm - it didn't.
And now that he's all beaten up and bloody, will we finally find out how this trip ends in an upcoming video for 'After Hours'? Only one way to find out!
The album drops on March 20. In the meantime, listen to the newly released 'After Hours' below!