On the first day of 2021, The Weeknd hinted that he wanted to drop his new album soon, as she shared a screenshot of a text conversation in which he said, “Let’s just drop the whole thing and enjoy it with the people.” Now, he’s following through with that: The Weeknd has announced that his new album, Dawn FM, is set for release this week, on Friday, January 7.
He shared a minute-long trailer and it describes the project as “a new sonic universe from the mind of The Weeknd.” The trailer also includes a list of what seems to be collaborators on the project, and it features Jim Carrey (yes, that Jim Carrey), Quincy Jones, Tyler The Creator, Lil Wayne, and Oneohtrix Point Never. The clip, which features footage of The Weeknd in aging prosthetic makeup, ends with a voiceover (recited by Carrey) that says, “You are now listening to 103.5 Dawn FM. You’ve been in the dark for way too long. It’s time to walk into the light and accept your fate with open arms.”
new album : dawn FM // january 7th pic.twitter.com/2H8AsuLcCi
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) January 3, 2022
While the Carrey collaboration may be unexpected, it’s not entirely unprecedented: The Canadian entertainment icons were introduced at a party and later spent The Weeknd’s 30th birthday together. The Weeknd previously explained, “On my [30th] birthday, he called and told me to look out my window, and on his balcony he had these giant red balloons, and he picked me up and we went to breakfast. It was surreal. Jim Carrey was my first inspiration to be any kind of performer, and I went to breakfast with him on my first day of being 30.”
Watch the trailer above.
Dawn FM is out 1/7 via Republic.