#The Weeknd Shares Preview of New Song: Listen

The Weeknd has shared a nearly two-minute preview of a new song. The title is currently unknown, though it’s the ostensible introduction to his next album cycle post-After Hours. “fuck it … IT STARTS TONIGHT,” he teased prior to the song’s release. Check it out below.

Following his car-dodging performance at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards in May, he offered a brief acceptance speech hinting that the next era of new music was about to begin: “The dawn is coming,” he said. The video below is centered on the horizon at dawn. In interviews and tweets in the past year, he’s alluded to preparing new music.

After appearing alongside Adam Sandler in the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems last year, Abel Tesfaye released his album After Hours in March. He released three more new songs—“Missed You,” “Nothing Compares,” and “Final Lullaby”—on a deluxe edition of the record later that month. He later released a handful of After Hours remixes with Rosalía (“Blinding Lights”), Ariana Grande (“Save Your Tears”), and Kenny G (“In Your Eyes”). 

In the wake of After Hours, Tesfaye headlined the 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Show, an effort he’d partially funded himself. Despite the record’s success—a run that included a No. 1 Billboard debut—it was shut out from Grammy nominations. Tesfaye responded by calling the Recording Academy’s voting committees “corrupt” and saying that he would no longer submit his work for Grammy consideration. Though the Recording Academy announced changes to its nominating processes in late April, Tesfaye has maintained his position.

Read “The Weeknd’s Director Alex Lill Unpacks the Singer’s Eccentric String of After Hours TV Performances” on the Pitch.