Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd is starting 2022 with some brand new tunes.
The singer has announced that his latest album, Dawn FM, will drop on January 7, 2022, and that it features guest appearances from Tyler, the Creator, Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, Oneohtrix Point Never, and, curiously, Jim Carrey. That’s right, that Jim Carrey.
Tesfaye has previously discussed his friendship with The Truman Show actor, explaining to Variety that the pair, who were introduced via text, could see one another’s LA homes from their respective residences.
“I texted him the address of my condo in L.A., and he said, ‘I can literally see your place from my balcony,’ and we got out telescopes and were waving to each other,” The Weeknd said in 2020.
He continued, “Jim Carrey was my first inspiration to be any kind of performer.”
I listened to Dawn FM with my good friend Abel @theweeknd last night. It was deep and elegant and it danced me around the room. I’m thrilled to play a part in his symphony. ;^• https://t.co/FV2LoKLYVX
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) January 3, 2022
In a recent post uploaded to The Weekend’s Instagram account, the artist revealed the impending release of the follow up to 2020s After Hours writing, “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.”
In a cryptic, but very on-brand, clip posted to Twitter, the record is described as “A new sonic universe from the mind of the Weeknd.”
The minute-long clip closes with a radio-DJ voiceover saying, “You are now listening to 103.5: Dawn FM. You’ve been in the dark for way too long, it’s time to walk into the light and accept your fate with open arms.”
new album : dawn FM // january 7th pic.twitter.com/2H8AsuLcCi
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) January 3, 2022
While we have zero clue what any of that means, it all sounds very intriguing and is sure to amp up the excitement about this new offering.
While Dawn FM marks The Weeknd’s first studio album in almost two years, the performer has definitely not been taking much of a break.
At the start of 2021, he headlined the Super Bowl at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, spending $9 million of his own hard-earned cash to take on the coveted job of halftime performer at the annual football game.
In March of 2021, he publicly declared that he would be boycotting the Grammys moving forward, after being overlooked for a nomination for the 63rd iteration of the awards show. At the time of the nominee announcements for the 2021 ceremony, the singer expressed his displeasure in a Tweet, writing “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…” before telling the New York Times, “Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.”
He later went on to sweep the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, taking home seven nods including top male artist, top radio songs artist, top R&B artist and top R&B male artist.
Tesfaye also starred in and co-wrote the forthcoming HBO series The Idol, alongside Reza Fahim and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson. The series, which stars Lily-Rose Depp and Troye Sivan centres on a female pop singer who starts a romance with an enigmatic L.A. club owner who is the leader of a secret cult.
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