The Weeknd

The Weeknd Delivers Updates On His Upcoming Album And HBO Series

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The Weeknd is almost ready to share his sixth album with the world. The singer has been teasing the currently untitled project for the better part of four months and it was just recently that he confirmed a new body of work was on the way thanks to its presumed lead single, “Take My Breath.” In addition to the new album, The Weeknd also has a new HBO series on the way, which is tentatively titled The Idol. At the moment, he’s still working out the last few details of both projects and in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he shared an update on both the album and the upcoming TV series.

“Yeah, I’m finishing the new album right now,” he said about his upcoming musical body of work. “It should be done by the end of this month and we’re just kind of figuring out when to put it out. It’s been really cool because I’m working on this album this summer simultaneously with the writer’s room for the new TV show.” He added, “So, I’ve been kind of going back and forth from finishing the album and pending up the show that we’re going to start shooting soon. It’s been quite a summer.”

The updates on the projects come after The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” the highlight single from his 2020 album After Hours, became the longest-charting single of all time after it spent its 88th week on the Billboard 200 earlier this month.

The Weeknd Cops Wild $70M Bel Air Home

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R&B crooner The Weeknd is living large. New reports reveal the music superstar has copped an insane Bel Air estate. The Weeknd Cops Wild $70M Bel Air Home The After Hours singer has copped a $70 million estate out in California. The house he bought is 33,000 square feet and features nine bedrooms, a spa, […]

Belly Announces The Release Date For His Jay-Z-Approved Album, ‘See You Next Wednesday’

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It’s been a minute since we last heard from Toronto-based rapper Belly, who last dropped a full-length project in 2018 (Immigrant). Throughout 2021, though, he’s been more active than ever, releasing the singles “Money On The Table” with Benny The Butcher, the Moneybagg Yo-assisted “Zero Love,” and “Better Believe” featuring Young Thug and Belly’s XO Records boss The Weeknd. Today, he announced the culmination of all this activity: His upcoming album See You Next Wednesday, sharing the cover, tracklist, and release date, August 27.

In addition to the aforementioned tracks, See You Next Wednesday will also include feature appearances from Big Sean, Gunna, Lil Uzi Vert, Nas, Nav, and PnB Rock. It will also have production from Belly himself, DannyBoyStyles, The ANMLS, and The Weeknd. In January, when Belly gave the first inklings that the album was on the way, he noted that the album is also approved by two of the more prominent voices in hip-hop: Jay-Z and The Weeknd.

“Before I officially close out an album, there’s two people I play it for to get the seal of approval: Hov and Abel,” he tweeted. “That being said, I can officially say the album is done.”

See You Next Wednesday is due 8/27 via XO Records and Roc Nation. You can pre-save it here.

Belly Announces The Release Date For His Jay-Z-Approved Album, ‘See You Next Wednesday’

by
Getty Image

It’s been a minute since we last heard from Toronto-based rapper Belly, who last dropped a full-length project in 2018 (Immigrant). Throughout 2021, though, he’s been more active than ever, releasing the singles “Money On The Table” with Benny The Butcher, the Moneybagg Yo-assisted “Zero Love,” and “Better Believe” featuring Young Thug and Belly’s XO Records boss The Weeknd. Today, he announced the culmination of all this activity: His upcoming album See You Next Wednesday, sharing the cover, tracklist, and release date, August 27.

In addition to the aforementioned tracks, See You Next Wednesday will also include feature appearances from Big Sean, Gunna, Lil Uzi Vert, Nas, Nav, and PnB Rock. It will also have production from Belly himself, DannyBoyStyles, The ANMLS, and The Weeknd. In January, when Belly gave the first inklings that the album was on the way, he noted that the album is also approved by two of the more prominent voices in hip-hop: Jay-Z and The Weeknd.

“Before I officially close out an album, there’s two people I play it for to get the seal of approval: Hov and Abel,” he tweeted. “That being said, I can officially say the album is done.”

See You Next Wednesday is due 8/27 via XO Records and Roc Nation. You can pre-save it here.

The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ Is Now The Longest-Charting Song Of All Time

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When last week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart was released, it was noted that The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” had tied Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” for the most time spent on the chart, and it was therefore one week away from claiming the record outright. Sure enough, on the latest Hot 100 (dated August 21), “Blinding Lights” is on it for the 88th week and is now the longest-charting song in the history of the Hot 100. The song was released on November 29, 2019, and despite all the time that has passed between then and now, it’s still high up on the charts, at No. 18 this week.

Additionally, aside from the new feat, “Blinding Lights” also holds the record for most weeks spent in the top 5, top 10, top 20, and top 40 of the chart.

It was a good week on the chart for The Weeknd beyond that as well: His latest single, “Take My Breath,” makes its debut on the chart at No. 6, making it his 13th top-10 song on the chart.

Meanwhile, The Weeknd is gearing up for a new album, of which “Take My Breath” is the first look. He recently said of the album, “The music hit the studio like a Mack truck. The new project is packed with party records. Like real-deal, illuminated-white-tiles-on-the-floor party records. Quincy Jones meets Giorgio Moroder meets the best-night-of-your-f*cking-life party records.”

The Weeknd Credits Two Songs By Britney Spears As Inspirations For His Next Album

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Following months of vague tweets that hinted at new music, The Weeknd has officially kicked off a new era in his career. It’s expected that the singer will share his next body of work within the next few months. In a GQ profile earlier this month, The Weeknd shared what can be expected on the new album. “The music hit the studio like a Mack truck,” he declared. “The new project is packed with party records. Like real-deal, illuminated-white-tiles-on-the-floor party records. Quincy Jones meets Giorgio Moroder meets the best-night-of-your-f*cking-life party records.”

Just a week after the GQ profile dropped, The Weeknd shared additional inspirations for the project through his Apple Music radio show. The most recent episode of Momento Mori, whose description promised he would play “a mix of music that showcases tracks inspiring the new Dawn era,” found him tapping into the catalogs of several artists. This includes Britney Spears, as he played “Everytime” and “Toxic” from her 2003 album In The Zone.

Other tracks that were aired during the episode came from artists that include Nas, Swedish House Mafia, Kid Cudi, Kanye West, and Tyler, the Creator.

Elsewhere in the episode, he shared an update on the state of his next album. “Album is pretty much done,” he said. “Just doing some final tweaks, some mixing notes, additional vocals.”

The Weeknd’s ‘Take My Breath’ Extended Mix Turns The Single Into A Club-Ready Banger

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The Weeknd’s 2020 disco-twinged album After Hours was an all-around success. Though it was notably snubbed by the Grammys, the LP earned several other awards and achieved chart success, hovering at No. 1 for several weeks. But The Weeknd is already looking towards his new era of music, which he officially announced last week with the dance-ready track “Take My Breath.”

Now taking his music to new heights, The Weeknd has returned with an extended version of “Take My Breath.” The original single clocked in at just over three-and-a-half minutes, but the latest version of the track tacks on an extra two minutes of trance-like synths. The extended version of “Take My Breath” is fit for the dancefloor, drawing out the song’s pulsating intro and euphoric bridge.

Though The Weeknd has yet to announce his upcoming fifth studio album’s title, the singer did describe the upcoming LP’s sound in an interview with Rolling Stone from last September. “I’m guilty of wanting to outdo my last album, but it’s never like, ‘I’ve got to do the same type of song.’ I’m so happy I’m not like that,” he said. “My palette is so wide. […] I’m trying to find a perfect balance with the film and the music, and so far it’s going really well. I think I might have cracked the code.”

Listen to The Weeknd’s “Take My Breath (Extended Version)” above.

Kanye West’s ‘Hurricane’ With The Weeknd And Lil Baby Appears To Be The First Single From ‘Donda’

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Late last month, Kanye West announced a listening session at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for his tenth album Donda, leaving many to believe that it would arrive shortly afterwards. Two weeks and one additional listening session later, fans are still waiting. At this point, Donda could be released any day now, but until then it seems like he’s shared the album’s first single.

Image via Apple Music

“Hurricane,” which features Lil Baby and The Weeknd, is one of the many tracks that Kanye premiered during his most recent listening session for Donda, and it could possibly arrive as soon as midnight EST in the United States. As of Sunday morning, “Hurricane” was listed as track 2 on Apple Music’s pre-save page for the album. HipHop-N-More also reported that the single is already available in select international streaming markets, like Russia’s Yandex and Japan’s Line Music.

Moreover, according to Complex, KayCyy, who is credited as a songwriter on the track, teased its impending release in a now-deleted tweet, writing, “Y’all ready?” before adding shortly thereafter, “Ok I won’t say anything anymore.”

The upcoming single will be Kanye’s first track with Lil Baby, while it’ll be his third with The Weeknd. The duo first collaborated on the singer’s track “Tell Your Friends,” a track Kayne produced, from his sophomore album Beauty Behind The Madness. The second track together came a year later with Kanye’s “FML.”

The Weeknd Suffers Defeat To A Daring Damsel In The Video For ‘Take My Breath’

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The Weeknd has been hitting fans with a wave of hints towards new music for the past few months. The teases include a tweet he shared last spring where he wrote, “made so much magic in the small quarantined room.” In addition to that, during an award acceptance speech at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, the singer said, “The After Hours are done and the dawn is coming.” His messages remained vague to fans until he announced a new single earlier this week, thus launching a new era in his career.

Titled “Take My Breath,” the track is an electric and full-spirited release that sounds like a blend of The Weeknd’s Starboy and After Hours albums. The song also arrives with a video that sees the singer wandering through a dimly lit party. He soon lands upon a woman that draws him in and ends up being the person he spends the night with. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worst when she quite literally takes his breath away to end the visual.

The new song was announced in a two-minute trailer earlier this week. Shortly after he shared the video, an ad for the 2020 Olympics was released which featured a new, yet short portion of “Take My Breath.” The visual for The Weeknd’s latest release was initially slated to premiere prior to screenings of The Suicide Squad in IMAX theaters this week, but the visual was pulled after health concerns for epilepsy were raised as the video features scenes with intense strobe lighting.

You can watch a video for “Take My Breath” above.