The Weeknd has announced that his new album, Dawn FM, will be released this coming Friday, January 7.
The artist – real name Abel Tesfaye – teased the news over the New Year weekend on his Instagram, writing that people should “wake up at dawn tomorrow”. He also shared a screengrab of a text message exchange in which he decides to “just drop the whole thing”.
Today, The Weeknd confirmed that the album will be out this week, writing in a caption alongside a video teaser of new music: “new album : dawn FM // january 7th.” The clip also namedrops Tyler, the Creator, Quincy Jones, Lil Wayne and others before it 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.”
Dawn FM is the follow-up to 2020’s After Hours. In the interim, however, Tesfaye has released multiple songs, remixes, collaborations and videos since then and has also starred in and co-written the forthcoming HBO series The Idol. His new album will be his fifth in addition to three mixtapes released in 2011.
The artist had a busy 2021. Besides kickstarting his “new era”, he released a string of collaborative tracks including his “Save Your Tears” remix with Ariana Grande in April; “You Right” with Doja Cat in June; “Better Believe” alongside Belly and Young Thug in July; “Die For It”, once again with Belly as well as Nas, in August; “Moth To A Flame” with Swedish House Mafia in October; and “One Right Now” with Post Malone in November.
Last month, he appeared on a new Aaliyah record called “Poison”. The team-up was released via Blackground Records 2.0 and Empire ahead of a posthumous studio album by Aaliyah, which is due to arrive at a later date.
Listen to the best of The Weeknd on Apple Music and Spotify.
