The Weeknd Reveals ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ Album ‘Didn’t Exist’ Before the Film

The Weeknd’s film debut as a lead actor is less than a month away. With Hurry Up Tomorrow set to hit theaters nationwide on May 16, Abel’s press run is underway as he opened up about the movie alongside director Trey Shults and co-star Jenna Ortega to Fandango on Thursday (April 24).

While the Hurry Up Tomorrow album arrived in February ahead of the film, the Toronto singer explained that the film actually came before the LP took shape.

“The film came first. The album didn’t exist. We were scoring and writing music to picture,” he said. “The idea came from a real-life incident that had happened and I always saw it as a film. The film came first, then the music.”

Shults revealed that The Weeknd came to him with an idea for the film, which they bonded over, and the duo continued to “swap traumas” and built out the universe for a potential movie.

“We’re both cinephiles that have this like-minded taste,” Shults added. “First, it started just, like, Abel had this idea, and we were both connecting over that. And then [we] got creative juju and super inspired and excited and bouncing back and forth.

He continued: “And then, naturally, influences started filtering in. You know, it ranged from Persona to Raging Bull to Purple Rain to Audition and you name it.”

The film finds The Weeknd playing a fictionalized version of himself as a pop star. Jenna Ortega (Annie) plays his love interest and Barry Keoghan also stars in the film as Abel tests the depths of his soul throughout the psychotic journey.

With the album serving as a companion piece, The Weeknd released another visual from Hurry Up Tomorrow for “I Can’t Wait to Get There,” which pulls scenes from the movie and is essentially a preview to the flick, enticing fans to buy tickets.

Fans in select cities will have the exclusive opportunity to screen the film early on May 14, prior to Hurry Up Tomorrow coming to theaters on May 16.

Prior to the film’s arrival, The Weeknd will kick off his After Hours Til Dawn Tour on May 9 in Phoenix. The trek will invade stadiums across North America this summer with Playboi Carti and Mike Dean serving as the tour’s special guests.

Check out The Weeknd’s interview with Ortega and Shults as well as his new video for “I Can’t Wait to Get There” below: