The Weeknd’s New Album: Everything You Need to Know

Since his incredible takeover in 2015 topping the Billboard Hot 100 charts with hits “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills,” Toronto singer The Weeknd has been working hard in the studio this year in development of the follow-up to his second studio effort Beauty Behind the Madness.

After the album experiencing massive success and debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last September, Mr Weeknd’s fan army (real name Abel Tesfaye) has high hopes that the falsetto-flaunting crooner will churn out some more high notes on his next offering. So, here’s everything we know so far about The Weeknd’s new album.

The Studio

A source tells Billboard that The Weeknd has been recording in Hollywood’s Conway Studios, a super-private compound that has previously hosted acts like Dr. Luke, Katy Perry and Beyonce. The singer rented out the space, which sits right across from the Paramount Pictures studio, for at least three to four months and has sent some of the studio staff home so that he and his team can work privately.

The Collaborators

In a July interview with Billboard, Republic Records executive VP/head of urban A&R Wendy Goldstein revealed that the XO leader was logging studio time with masked electronic music duo Daft Punk. “Actually, we have a session coming up in two days … with The Weeknd and Daft Punk,” she said. “I’ve always been a massive Daft Punk fan, and this is the first time that I’ve actually been involved with an artist who’s going to go and work with them.”

The Weeknd also shared a Facebook photo (Aug. 17) of miniature Daft Punk figurines on top of a speaker.

In May, another A-lister, Justin Timberlake, teased that an XO-meets-JT track could happen. “[The Weeknd] and I have been talking about doing a collab,” the Trollssoundtrack producer told BBC 1Xtra. “He’s working on an album right now. I don’t know if I was supposed to say that.”

The Producers

The Weeknd told Vogue in May that he is reuniting with the production team responsible for his 2011 mixtape House of Balloons. “But it’s a new thing,” Tesfaye said simply. “Always a new thing.” The mood music master — who was also featured on Beyonce’s sultry Lemonade track “6 Inch,” Rihanna’s Anti cut “Woo” and Kanye West’s Life of Pablo song “FML” — also noted of his time in the studio, “Creatively, some magic is happening right now, and I don’t want to lose it.”

The “Chapters”

The Weeknd often refers to his opuses as “chapters.” In March, he shared a smoky selfie in a tweet that read, “chapter done soon. just let these pages flip.” The upcoming album would be considered “Chapter IV,” following the releases of 2012’s Trilogy, 2013’s Kiss Land and 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness.

According to Complex, The Weeknd’s Twitter bio once read, “Chapter 1: Trilogy | Chapter 2: Kiss Land | Chapter 3.”

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