“After Hours” review

Canadian R&B singer and songwriter The Weeknd is back to his old ways with a new single “After Hours” and an album release date for his fans.

The Weeknd, also known as Abel Tesfaye, has been teasing fans with the new album for months. On Feb. 13, he announced the title of the album through a video on Instagram, which has the same name as the song released, “After Hours.”

On Tuesday, Feb. 18, he posted the album cover to Instagram with the caption, “Album Cover (New Track Tonight).” No one was expecting it, which made it a perfect time. Along with the dropping of the title song, The Weeknd’s album is officially available for preorder. The project is set to drop on March 20, 2020.

The “After Hours” track was exactly what fans like me wanted: an ode to The Weeknd’s compilation album, “Trilogy,” with a slightly different take. Similar to “Trilogy,” there is a dark cloud over the entirety of the song and it is a longer song, sitting at six minutes. The other prominent element is an underlying, modern, electric sound.

The Weeknd is also embracing his incurable romantic side. Fans got a taste of this in his 2018 EP “My Dear Melancholy,” which included songs about ex-girlfriends Selena Gomez and Bella Hadid.

“After Hours” is a tortured love song, apologizing to a lover for breaking her heart, begging to start a family and promising to never let her down again. I speculate this is about his recent break up with Bella Hadid. Lyrics like “I wanna share babies” insinuate that The Weeknd is ready to move into the next chapter of his life: settling down and starting a family.

Hearing the time and thought that was put into this song only increases the anticipation for The Weeknd’s first full album since “Starboy,” which dropped in 2016. Tune in for the full album review in late March.