At various points over the past few months, The Weeknd has taken to social media to hint at something new to come. Now, it appears his post-After Hours era is kicking off, as today, he shared a video that includes nearly two minutes of new music.
The 100-second digital clip, titled “The Dawn Is Coming,” is a single shot that zooms over a dark landscape towards an orange sky and giant sun-like celestial body. All the while, some thumping electronic music that features some vocals from The Weeknd plays. At this point, it’s unclear if “The Dawn Is Coming” is the title of a new song, project, or just the name of the teaser itself.
The Weeknd is also the subject of a new GQ profile that was published today, and the piece describes some of his upcoming music: “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-fucking-life party records. Not anachronistic disco stuff. (Not ‘cosplay,’ as Abel put it.) That sort of retro thing is having a moment right now in pop music, but these records are new. Sweaty. Hard. Drenched-suit, grinding-on-the-girl/boy-of-your-dreams party records.”