The Weeknd

The Weeknd famously launched his career with the 2011 mixtapes House Of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes Of Silence, which were later compiled on Trilogy. Now, The Weeknd suggests that his latest album, Dawn FM, is part of a new trilogy, and fans have ideas about what this new trilogy consists of.

Sharing a photo of himself in his old man makeup today, The wrote, “i wonder… did you know you’re experiencing a new trilogy?”

In response, some fans shared screenshots of a recent post from the r/TheWeeknd subreddit that theorizes The Weeknd’s next album will be called After Life. The post reads, “Many people did not like that ‘Every Angel is Terrifying’ is not a full song, but just a longer skit, but guys please… he literally threw an advertisement for his next album which will be called After Life. After Hours -> Dawn FM (purgatory) -> After Life and After Life will be the closure of the whole new trilogy. In the first track ‘Dawn FM’ when Jim Carrey says ‘enjoy another hour of commercial-free music’ we can hear “‘ree yourself’ and then on ‘Every Angel is Terrifying’ so we get commercial. Abel did not do it accidentally, he marked it on ‘Dawn FM’ to make us pay attention to it. Tell me that i am not the only one who thinks like that. Dawn FM is nearly done, and the After Life is coming guys!”

That’s a theory — that the trilogy started with After Hours and will likely end with an album called After Life — with which others on Twitter seem to agree, so check out some fan posts about it below.

The Weeknd’s new album Dawn FM has been out for a few hours now, and while fans are enjoying the music, one of the project’s lyrics also inspired some curiosity-driven phone calls. Towards the end of “Every Angel Is Terrifying,” The Weeknd says, “Call 1-800-444-4444 / That’s 1-800-444-4444 now to order ‘After Life.’” Naturally, fans were quick to make note of that number and give it a ring.

However, the number doesn’t lead to any Dawn FM Easter eggs, as The Weeknd has nothing to do with it. In fact, it’s already relatively well-known in its own right and has been for some time: The oldest existing mention of the number online appears to be from a 2003 forum post. Vice noted of the number in 2016, “Perhaps the easiest number you’ll ever dial, this MCI-controlled phone number is perhaps the most prominent example of an ‘automatic number announcement circuit,’ or ANAC number. These numbers, which are generally well-guarded by phone providers, are designed to repeat back to you the number you’re calling from.”

Indeed, when calling the number, a voice says, “Thank you for calling MCI. Our system indicates you are calling from [caller’s phone number]. If this is the number you are calling about, press 1. If not, please listen to the following two options. To enter the number you are calling about, press 2. If you do not have a telephone number currently in service and need to establish a new telephone number, press 3.”

So, if you call 1-800-444-4444 hoping for some sort of Weeknd-related goodie, you’ll come up empty. However, if you do not have a telephone number currently in service and need to establish a new telephone number (which may not be likely considering you’re able to call the number), then today’s your lucky day.

Listen to “Every Angel Is Terrifying” below.

Dawn FM is out now via Republic. Get it here.

First-week sales of a new album is a metric that most major artists place a lot of value on; Having a big debut is good for a project’s chart prospects and moving a lot of copies of an album early gives some major bragging rights. That doesn’t matter to The Weeknd, though, as he declared in a reply to a Twitter thread suggesting that the first-week sales of Dawn FM will be negatively impacted because no physical editions of the album will be available upon its release. (The Weeknd’s online store notes that CD editions of Dawn FM are set to ship on January 28, while vinyl and cassette versions will ship on April 29.)

The thread in question reads, “No physical copies (vinyls, CDs, cassettes) for @theweeknd’s ‘Dawn FM’ will be available in store during release week. Furthermore, no physical copies will be shipped the first week. This will obviously impact first week figures. The reason is likely that The Weeknd pushed the release up. Therefore, physicals aren’t ready for distribution.”

It then points to The Weeknd’s New Year’s Day Instagram post to back up its claim about the supposedly advanced release date. In that post, The Weeknd wrote, “Music can heal and that feels more important than another album rollout. Let’s just drop the whole thing and enjoy it with the people.”

The Weeknd caught wind of this thread and noted in response, “this doesn’t matter to me. what matters is getting to experience the album together with the fans during these times.”

All of that said, Dawn FM shouldn’t have a problem being the biggest new album of the week, as its primary competition for that title may be Gunna’s Drip Season 4.

Dawn FM is out 1/7 via Republic. Pre-order it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.