After a brief delay because of the Los Angeles fires, The Weeknd returned with his sixth and final studio album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow.”

He currently holds the record for most songs over a billion streams on Spotify with 27, making him one of the biggest male pop stars in the United States. “Hurry Up Tomorrow” is probably his saddest, most vulnerable album yet, and it might be his best.

Born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye in Toronto, Canada, The Weeknd needs no introduction. He first shot to fame with his 2012 compilation album, “Trilogy.” Though it was primarily made to put together songs from his previously released mixtapes “House of Balloons,” “Thursday” and “Echoes of Silence,” “Trilogy” has remained an important fixture within his career. It was important to him that he would reuse the concept of a trilogy with his fourth, fifth and sixth albums.

Even before the official announcement of this album, Tesfaye made it clear that this would be his last project as The Weeknd, because he felt that he did everything he could with the persona. This feels like the natural progression of The Weeknd, as he has repeatedly expressed feeling like he was stuck in a toxic cycle and has directly played around with killing himself in his work.

“Wake Me Up (feat. Justice),” the first song in this run and on the album, is a great intro. The atmosphere it creates is immediately engrossing. The song can be split up into two parts, the moody intro and the disco-infused second half — perfectly encapsulating the dichotomy of the album as a whole. Although The Weeknd has been compared to Michael Jackson in the past, often in derogatory terms, this song cements that these comparisons should be made in earnest.

The next song, “Cry For Me,” starts right where “Wake Me Up (feat. Justice)” ends. It’s tragic, heartfelt and energetic all at the same time. It has a perfect commercial sound but is different enough from his other hits to avoid negative comparisons. The interlude “I Can’t Fucking Sing,” bridges the gap between this and the previously released “São Paulo (feat. Anitta).”

This song is a collaboration with Brazilian singer, Anitta, and though she doesn’t receive her own verse on the song, she dominates its intro and outro. The song’s heavily influenced by Brazilian funk music and although it is a little messy at times, The Weeknd still delivers while crossing genres. This is the song on the album that benefits the most from being listened to on the record and not on its own. Initially, this song was very jarring as it was a completely different genre from The Weeknd but it makes perfect sense listening to it following “Cry For Me.” “Until We’re Skin & Bones” makes “São Paulo (feat. Anitta)” even better as it serves as an extended outro to the song, giving it a satisfying climax that can’t be found on the single version.

“Baptized in Fear” immediately follows “Until We’re Skin & Bones.” On its own, it’s a solid track but is elevated by its connection to “Open Hearts.” Abel’s scream at the end of “Baptized in Fear” directly transitions into his scream at the start of “Open Hearts.”

“Open Hearts” is another song that challenges for the best on the album. Like most other songs on the album, it is moody and sometimes outright depressing, yet despite this, its production is so complex that it can be listened to repeatedly. On the surface, it’s a simplistic song but it also feels like it’s been perfectly engineered to be a hit. The atmosphere it creates will resonate long after your first listen.

“Reflections Laughing (feat. Travis Scott and Florence + The Machine)” and “Enjoy The Show (feat. Future)” are other noteworthy songs. The Weeknd has done great work with all three artists in the past but these are not their best songs together. It is worth mentioning however that this is the first time Travis Scott has appeared on one of The Weeknd’s albums despite Tesfaye being present on every Scott record. “Given Up On Me” also seemingly features an uncredited appearance by Future, but this is unconfirmed. If it does, it would serve as a bit of redemption for him as it’s a slightly better song than “Enjoy The Show,” though his contribution is minimal.

The real star of this track run is “I Can’t Wait To Get There.” Although this is yet another track that could arguably be the best on the album, its shorter run time and lack of connective tissue to the songs around it hurts it in this regard. The contrasts between the at-times crude lyrics and Tesfaye’s soft voice with the gospel-like production are great. The choir featured in this song elevates it, making the confessional lyrics seem even more tragic as if Tesfaye is directly calling out to God or the idea of him. Despite its quality, this song is unfortunately likely to be overshadowed by the next track on this album, the mega-hit, “Timeless (feat. Playboi Carti).”

On its own, “Timeless (feat. Playboi Carti)” is a decent song. Tesfaye’s verse and chorus are great along with Pharrell’s production. Playboi Carti’s inclusion, however, sticks out like a sore thumb. He isn’t terrible on the song, but it’s obvious he isn’t putting nearly as much effort into this song as Tesfaye does. If the rumors that Playboi Carti’s verses are entirely AI are true, as these emotionless lines imply, it absolutely cheapens the album.

The exclusion of “Dancing In The Flames” feels especially weird when considering this, as it was billed as the album’s lead single, sounds better than “Timeless (feat. Playboi Carti),” and would fit better with the themes and sound of the album. Having “Timeless (feat. Playboi Carti)” on the album and “Dancing In The Flames” off of it feels like a purely commercial decision fueled by “Timeless (feat. Playboi Carti)”’s huge streaming numbers. It’s pretty jarring to go from “I Can’t Wait to Get There” to this song and then to “Niagara Falls” as those are both moody compared to the cocky tone in “Timeless (feat. Playboi Carti).”

The last track on the album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” however, deserves to be looked at on its own. Expectations were high going into this song as it is essentially the end of The Weeknd’s story. To satisfy expectations he would have to find a way to conclude over ten years of music. The song is aptly melancholy. He sings about being tired and distressed about all the things he can’t change while also expressing hope for the future. Heaven is used to signify this as he goes back to the allusion to death used throughout this album. There have been theories that this song transitions into “High For This” the first track on “Trilogy.” Though this has remained unconfirmed, the two songs would create a full circle send-off to his career.

If you haven’t yet, you should make it a priority to listen to this album. It is one of the most consistently beautiful bodies of works put out by a major artist in the last century. Despite its twenty-two tracks and one hour and twenty-four minute run time, there is no bloat on this album. If this truly is the end, Tesfaye couldn’t find a better way to conclude the odyssey that produced so many monumental hits.

Rating: 4.75/5