The Weeknd has announced that his new album, ‘Dawn FM’, will be released this 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 (January 4), 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.

 

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‘Dawn FM’ is the follow-up to 2020’s ‘After Hours‘. 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.

 

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In August he released a video teaser along with new single ‘Take My Breath‘.

‘Dawn FM’ is The Weeknd’s fifth album 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.