The Weeknd isn’t quite done with the After Hours era yet, considering he just released a new remix with Ariana Grande. He does seem to be thinking about what’s next, though, as last night, he took to Twitter to seemingly tease new material.
He began by tweeting last night, “it’s the night-time that matters…,” followed hours later by a GIF of Bugs Bunny laying in bed, unable to sleep. He then added, “what is real?” After that, he got to teasing, writing in a trio of tweets, “made so much magic in the small quarantined room,” “nothing’s ever random,” and “now just piecing it all together… it’s so beautiful.”
Those tweets seem to suggest that something new is in the works, and a fresh album from The Weeknd in the not-so-distant future wouldn’t be a surprise, given that he discussed the possibility months ago. A Rolling Stone profile from September revealed that The Weeknd has spent time working on new music in a makeshift studio in his condo, with The Weeknd himself saying, “I might have another album ready to go by the time this quarantine is over.” He continued, “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. 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.”
Fans of Ariana Grande and The Weeknd who appreciated the duo’s first collaboration, 2014’s “Love Me Harder,” had to wait a little over seven years to get a second song from them. That second track would wind up being “Off The Table” from Grande’s sixth album, Positions. Luckily for the singers’ supporters, they didn’t have to wait nearly as long for a third track between Grande and The Weeknd. The pair reunited for a remix of “Save Your Tears,” a track from The Weeknd’s After Hours album.
The new version arrives with an animated visual that sees The Weeknd building the ideal woman for himself thanks to an assembly line of body parts. The “Save Your Tears” remix comes weeks after The Weeknd hinted that the After Hours era, one that began with the album’s release in March 2020, was not over yet. “P.s. this chapter isn’t quite done yet …” he said on Twitter, adding, “still tying some loose ends.” Afterward, he dropped a video for “Try Me” from his 2018 EP, My Dear Melancholy, and sold an unreleased song through an NFT auction.
On Grande’s side of things, she recently connected with Demi Lovato for their “Met Him Last Night” track and shared a behind-the-scenes clip of her meticulously singing during a Positions studio session.
Press play on the “Save Your Tears” remix in the video above.
If someone had asked me what NFT stood for last year, I’d probably list off thousands of answers before correctly naming them “non-fungible tokens.” NFTs have become the new buzzword in recent months, and with reports of some artists making millions off them, it seems like everyone is trying to break into the cryptocurrency art market.
NFTs were originally designed as a way to allow artists profit off of their shareable digital content. Once an NFT is purchased, artists can continue to make a percentage from any further sale. If you’re looking for a in-depth description on what exactly an NFT is, revisit Uproxx’s explainer here, but Jack Harlow actually gave a fairly succinct definition of NFTs in a recent SNL sketch. In a rap with Pete Davidson, Harlow detailed how NFTs are unique, built on blockchain technology, and can be sold once they’re “minted.”
Since March, NFTs have been all over the news, with everyone from sports teams to toilet paper brands joining the craze. But the music industry in particular has been seeing an explosion of NFTs, and major artists like Grimes and Steve Aoki have made a head-turning sum of money off of them. All this begs the question: How did NFTs go from an obscure acronym to one of the biggest trends in the music industry in just the matter of a few months? Let’s take a look.
Grimes has always been a pioneer in music and culture, which is why it makes sense that she was one of the first big-name musicians to sell artwork as an NFT. The singer had teamed up with her brother, Mac Boucher, to release her first collection of digital artwork as NFTs. Titled WarNymph Collection Vol 1, Grimes’ art sold out in just one day and ended up raking in $6 million.
March 3, 2021 — Disclosure
UK electronic duo Disclosure were also early to the NFT party. After seeing the success fellow EDM artist 3Lau had with NFTs, Disclosure decided to produce a brand-new song live on Twitch and mint it as an NFT. Ever since, the duo have continued to sell various NFTs, including a token for the original “Disclosure face” seen in their press photos and album art.
Despite the public scrutiny Tory Lanez has faced in the past year after allegedly shooting Megan Thee Stallion her in the foot, the rapper has continued to debut new music. Days ahead of the release of his recent album Playboy, Lanez paired two of the LP’s songs with digital art and minted them as NFTs. He also gave fans access to an unreleased song off his upcoming ’80’s-themed album, which has yet to be announced.
Kings Of Leon had a similar approach to Lanez when it comes to NFTs. The veteran group minted their entire LP When You See Yourself, which they referred to as NFT Yourself, as an NFT and sold it alongside a collection of other art. Those who purchased the NFT were able to snag a digital download of the album, as well as limited edition physical vinyl.
Steve Aoki‘s addition to the NFT industry was a 11-piece collection of vibrant digital artwork titled Dream Catcher, and he was extremely successful. A part of the collection ended up being purchased by T-Mobil CEO John Legere, who bought just one piece for a whopping $888,888.88. In total, Aoki was able to earn $4.25 million in the 24 hours that the auction took place.
March 12, 2021 — MF Doom
MF Doom was one of the early adopters of NFTs. In fact, he tragically passed last October just one day after his first NFT auction of augmented reality masks closed. With the help of his wife Jasmine and his estate, more of MF Doom’s augmented reality were once again sold as NFTs in March in partnership with the crypto marketplace Illust Space.
In a statement about the second auction, a representative from Illust Space said: “Due to blockchain’s immutable and decentralized ledger technology, all of MF DOOM’s AR NFT collection will be available for future generations of fans and collectors, creating a new model for royalties and posthumous creative control legacies.”
A few weeks after Grimes made a sizeable sum from selling her artwork as an NFT, Elon Musk decided to follow suit. When he’s not working on the future of space travel or tweeting out esoteric memes, the billionaire makes EDM music in his spare time. As the self-professed “technoking of Tesla,” Musk decided to make a song about NFTs, and sell it as an NFT.
March 17, 2021 — Halsey
“People Disappear Here” An Original NFT Collection available March 17th on @niftygateway. A portion of sales will be donated to @MFPLA, as well as @carbon_180, a NGO dedicated to the mission of creating a world that removes more carbon that it emits. pic.twitter.com/0lPlNc7513
While Halsey is known for her music, she’s also an incredibly talented interdisciplinary artist. That’s why she was relatively early to the NFT game. The singer auctioned off a handful of hand-painted characters she created in the collection People Disappear Here. “The characters are all inspired by figures that occurred in a series of sleep paralysis nightmares I had at home during the quarantine,” Halsey said in a statement. “After seven years of bed surfing hotel rooms around the world, adjusting to my own pitch black cave in California had a little bit of a learning curve. From toddler TV programming evil dentists, a child born with massive claws who scratched her way out of the womb, to a woman who stood at the foot of my bed and demanded I watch her masturbate. They were memorable to say the least.”
March 22, 2021 — Rico Nasty
It’s been nearly half a year since Rico Nasty released her anticipated debut studio album Nightmare Vacation, and she decided to commemorate the release with an NFT. The rapper teamed up with her “OHFR?” video creator Don Allen III to sell artwork from the video as an NFT. The highest bidder not only claims ownership of the NFT, but they also received the physical hammer Rico Nasty used the video, signed by the rapper herself. One of the reasons why she decided to join the NFT fad is that it “needs more women entering the space.”
March 23, 2021 — Diplo
When Diplo decided to break into the NFT industry, he did it a little differently. His series of NFT art, titled Cloud10, was made in collaboration with the artistic duo of Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III and features several cutesy animated characters. But rather than opening up the artwork to a bidding war, Diplo and his collaborators decided to offer their first NFT for only $1 in order for “for young collectors to grow their own wealth through the ownership of art.”
March 26, 2021 — Gorillaz
When Gorillaz announced they would be hopping onto the NFT game, it didn’t go quite as smoothly. While other musicians were welcomed into the world of NFTs, Gorillaz werechastised by their fanbase. The band announced that they would be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album by teaming up with the toy company Superplastic for a series of toys, collectibles, and, of course, NFTs. Fans weren’t to happy with the news though, and were quick to point out the devastating environmental impact that the sale of a single NFT has. A petition was even created to get the Gorillaz to stop producing NFTs, and it already has over 3,000 signatures.
April 3, 2021 — The Weeknd
Excited to announce that my first NFT drop is taking place on Saturday at 2:00 pm EST on @niftygateway. The collection will feature new music and limited edition art. I developed the artwork with Strange Loop Studios pic.twitter.com/627BO4JekK
After The Weeknd was snubbed for a Grammy nomination in all categories this year despite the success of the album After Hours, the singer has begun to call for greater transparency in the music industry. He’s since decided to boycott the Grammys all together and made his displeasure about various aspects of the music industry abundantly clear. Seeing all the potential that NFTs have to offer, The Weeknd decided to hold a cryptocurrency auction where he would sell exclusive artwork, including an unreleased song, as an NFT.
About his decision to join the NFT market, The Weeknd laid out his vision for the future of the music industry: “Blockchain is democratizing an industry that has historically been kept shut by the gatekeepers. I’ve always been looking for ways to innovate for fans and shift this archaic music biz and seeing NFT’s allowing creators to be seen and heard more than ever before on their terms is profoundly exciting.”
M.I.A. is no stranger to taking her music to unconventional platforms. Last year, the musician launched a subscription-based Patreon page as a platform to share her new projects. Taking things one step further M.I.A announced a 24-hour NFT auction where she will be selling some of her original art for the first time in 25 years. “It’s only now that the appropriate gallery for my work finally exists,” she said in a statement.
Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl teamed up for the surprise collaboration “Eazy Sleazy” in April, which was meant to bring “some much-needed optimism” about coming out of COVID-19 lockdown. But a few days following the track’s release, Jagger announced that Berlin-based 3D artist Extraweg had turned the track into a digital animation, which he sold as an NFT during a 24-hour auction. All proceeds from the sale were divided up and donated between music-related charities.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
A few weeks ago, The Weeknd indicated that there is still more to come from the After Hours era, tweeting, “p.s. this chapter isn’t quite done yet … still tying some loose ends.” At the time, he didn’t make clear what exactly that meant. Now, though, it looks like we know one thing that may be coming soon: a new remix of “Save Your Tears” featuring Ariana Grande, which both artists teased on social media yesterday.
Both Grande and The Weeknd shared the same audio clip on social media and tagged each other in their posts, all but confirming the collaboration. The video runs for eight seconds, and during that time, isolated, reverb-heavy vocals from the pair, singing what seems to be a melody from “Save Your Tears,” can be heard.
The pair have of course collaborated multiple times, once on Grande’s “Love Me Harder” from her 2014 album My Everything and again on “Off The Table,” from Grande’s 2020 album Positions. Of course, it’s also widely believed that the two were once linked romantically.
Meanwhile, Grande has also recently spent some time revisiting one of her recent albums, as she shared a behind-the-scenes clip of herself recording some vocals on “Positions.”
R&B/pop singer The Weekend continues to make history despite some unforgettable snubs. The Toronto native’s hit single “Blinding Lights” — which wasn’t even nominated for a Grammy — has been in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 for more than a year and just became the longest-reigning No. 1 song in the chart’s history. The […]
The Weeknd is known to be philanthropic. Last summer he donated $1 million to pandemic relief, half of which went to his hometown of Scarborough and the other to MusiCares. Nearly a year later, the After Hours singer has lent another million, this time towards relief efforts in Ethiopia, the birth country of his parents.
In a statement to his social media pages, wrote, “My heart breaks for my people of Ethiopia as innocent civilians ranging from small children to the elderly are being senselessly murdered and entire villages are being displaced out of fear and destruction.” The singer added that the donation would provide “2 million meals through the United Nations World Food Programme and encourage those who can to please give as well.” The conflict in the East African country stems from tensions between the government in Addis Abada and the Tigray region.
The donation comes after The Weeknd hosted an NFT auction to sell an unreleased song. Prior to that he dropped a video for his 2018 track “Try Me” to celebrate the three-year anniversary of his My Dear Melancholy. Earlier this year, he also announced a boycott of the Grammys, citing their use of what he called “secret committees.” His decision prompted the awards body to announce they were trying to “improve our awards process, including the nomination review committees.”
After Grimes made $6 million in one day for selling a collection of digital art as NFTs, musicians have been following suit and trying to break into the cryptocurrency art business. Artists like Diplo, Rico Nasty, and Halsey have released artwork as NFTs and now, The Weeknd is the latest to get into the game by hosting an NFT auction.
On Wednesday, The Weeknd officially announced his cryptocurrency auction, which he had previously teased. Items that will be up for sale include exclusive digital artwork and even an unreleased song.
About his decision to join the NFT marketplace The Weeknd said:
“Blockchain is democratizing an industry that has historically been kept shut by the gatekeepers. I’ve always been looking for ways to innovate for fans and shift this archaic music biz and seeing NFT’s allowing creators to be seen and heard more than ever before on their terms is profoundly exciting. I intend to contribute to this movement and can see that very soon it will be weaved into the music industry’s mechanics”
Excited to announce that my first NFT drop is taking place on Saturday at 2:00 pm EST on @niftygateway. The collection will feature new music and limited edition art. I developed the artwork with Strange Loop Studios pic.twitter.com/627BO4JekK
Echoing The Weeknd’s statement, Nifty Gateway Co-Founder Duncan Cock-Foster said: “The Weeknd’s entry into the NFT space marks a seminal moment in NFT history. One of the most influential R&B singers of our generation creating in this new medium is huge validation for the entire NFT space. We’re thrilled to present this unique, beautiful collection to the world.”
Check out a preview of The Weeknd’s NFT auction items above.
The sale starts 4/3 at 2 p.m. EST on Nifty Gateway. Find more information here.
The Weeknd has spent much of March celebrating some big anniversaries. There was the ten-year of his debut mixtape, House Of Balloons, which helped him break into the R&B world. Last March, The Weeknd released his most recent album, After Hours, to widespread acclaim. Finally, back on this date in 2018, he dropped the only EP of his career, My Dear Melancholy. To celebrate the latter, The Weeknd dropped a new video for one of the EP’s tracks, “Try Me.” It’s a fairly simple one that finds the Canadian singer lip-synching the lyrics to the song into the front-facing camera of his phone while he sits in the backseat of a car.
The video comes after The Weeknd teased that new music would arrive soon, albeit in a unique way. “new song living in NFT space. coming soon…,” he wrote in a post on Twitter. Whenever it arrives, the singer will join the likes of Ja Rule and Grimes as artists who have taken advantage of the NFT space. He also hinted at more releases as a part of his After Hours era. This was news he also delivered on Twitter, where he wrote, “p.s. this chapter isn’t quite done yet,” adding, “still tying some loose ends.”
Toronto music superstar The Weeknd is doing things differently. The award-winning superstar has revealed a unique approach to dropping his new retail tunes. The Weeknd’s Next Song To Be Sold As NFT The Weeknd tweeted out to followers that his next single would be available as an NFT (a non-refungible token). He didn’t reveal any […]
