After ample teasing, The Weeknd sprung a surprise on fans with the official announcement of his new album, ‘Dawn FM.’
And the LP is arriving sooner than you may think!
Full story below…
Seconds ago (yes, seconds), the Pop titan lifted the lid on the project – which follows 2020’s mega-selling ‘After Hours’ album.
As earlier hinted, he’s eschewing the lengthy roll-out and instead of dropping the entire album THIS FRIDAY (January 7).
Prior to now, the primary track folk have been privy to hear is taster effort ‘Take My Breath.’
The ‘Dawn FM’ announcement came in the form of a cinematic trailer. Check it out:
A bold, but possibly brilliant move.
Historically, albums from heavy hitters have generally been scheduled for later months (see: Q3/Q4) and almost always never at the start of the year. The reason being that consumer spending tends to dwindle after hyperactivity during the festive window.
That said, with most teams following that trend, Q1 is routinely one of the quietest frames on the release calendar and, as such, one of the least competitive too.
Put simply, with Christmas music dropping off at a rapid rate and the only major offerings being those already out (Adele et al), Abel theoretically has a clean slate to dominate. Thus rendering this move a possible masterstroke.
Add to that the fact that streaming is now the standardized means of music consumption (24/7, 365), the whole notion of shoehorning “big releases” to later in the year may itself be an archaic concept.
Suffice to say, The Weeknd’s ‘Dawn FM’ will be an interesting test of that.
Our rambling aside, we’re excited! Are you?!