The Weeknd appears to be readying a new album with a cryptic teaser posted to social media over the weekend.
Abel took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday (January 7) to drop a hint about his next project, which appears to conclude another trilogy in his catalog.
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The singer posted the cover art for his last two albums, 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM, followed by a question mark teasing a third and final installment in the trilogy. He also shared a “3” emoji in the post.
The Weeknd also retweeted a post from a fan account that read: “pain, regret, rebirth” with three different silhouettes of the singer, the most recent showing him as a child against a purple backdrop.
3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/ln3V0f6H50
— Abel Tesfaye (@theweeknd) January 7, 2024
pain, regret, rebirth. pic.twitter.com/1RgHSN4DuJ
— The Weeknd Access (@WeekndAccess) January 6, 2024
The Weeknd previously hinted at After Hours and Dawn FM being part of a trilogy in 2022.
“I wonder… did you know you’re experiencing a new trilogy,” he wrote on X at the time shortly after the release of the latter.
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Fans began to search for answers around his tweet, with one Reddit user theorizing that track number 12 on Dawn FM, “Every Angel Is Terrifying,” is a hint that The Weeknd’s next album will be called After Life.
The track starts with the singer harmonizing alongside the futuristic production before the radio dial switches to him giving a speech about angels.
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The dial switches again to an advertisement promoting something called “After Life,” which the narrator says is “intense, graphic, sexy, euphoric, provocative, edgy, thought-provoking, technically and visually stunning.”
Another fan claimed that at the end of After Hours, the red-suited character died and is now in purgatory on Dawn FM. The fan went on to suggest The Weeknd would then accept his fate on After Life, regardless of whether he’s sent to Heaven or Hell.
Last year, The Weeknd hinted at retiring his stage name after his next album and possibly going by his birth name, Abel Tesfaye.
“I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he told W Magazine. “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter.
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“I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”
He also revealed he was working on a new album that would likely be his last project as The Weeknd.
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“The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd,” he said. “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”
