March 2020 was a weird time for everyone. The world was shutting down, anxiety was at an all-time high, and suddenly, we had this blood-soaked, neon-drenched soundtrack to the apocalypse. When Abel Tesfaye dropped The Weeknd After Hours album, he didn't just release a collection of songs. He created a cinematic universe that somehow made isolation feel stylish. Honestly, looking back at it now, it’s wild how well that record captured the collective headspace of a planet in retreat, even though he’d written most of it long before "social distancing" was a thing.
It was bold. It was dark. Most importantly, it was a massive risk that paid off in ways nobody—not even his label—could have fully predicted.
The Night Terrors of Las Vegas
The aesthetics of this era were impossible to miss. If you saw a guy in a red suit with a bandaged face on a talk show, you knew exactly who it was. The Weeknd didn't break character for a year. That’s dedication. He was channeling 80s synth-pop but filtered through a gritty, Scorsese-inspired lens. Think Casino meets Uncut Gems. In fact, Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never), who scored Uncut Gems, was a key architect of the album’s sound.
The title track, "After Hours," is basically a six-minute descent into madness. It starts with these hollow, echoing vocals and builds into a frantic, beat-heavy second half that feels like a panic attack in a nightclub. People often forget that before the radio-friendly sheen of "Blinding Lights," The Weeknd was known for this kind of murky, drug-fueled R&B. This album was a homecoming to that darkness, but with a massive budget and sharper hooks.
Why "Blinding Lights" Never Actually Died
It’s the song that wouldn't go away. Seriously. "Blinding Lights" broke the record for the most weeks spent in the Billboard Hot 100’s top five and top ten. Why? Because it’s a perfect piece of Max Martin production. It’s got that 80s nostalgia that hits the lizard brain of every generation, from Gen Z TikTokers to Boomers who remember A-ha.
👉 See also: Is Heroes and Villains Legit? What You Need to Know Before Buying
But there’s a irony there. The song sounds like a celebration, but the lyrics are actually about being desperate for someone’s touch while you’re "blinded" by the city lights—likely a metaphor for the hollow nature of fame or a substance-induced haze. That’s the magic of The Weeknd After Hours album. It tricks you into dancing to your own misery.
A Middle Finger to the Grammys
You can't talk about this record without mentioning the 2021 Grammys. It was arguably the biggest snub in the history of the awards. Despite having the biggest song in the world and a critically acclaimed album, Abel received zero nominations. None.
The fallout was legendary. He called the Grammys "corrupt" and pledged to boycott them forever. This moment changed the industry's perception of "prestige." When the most successful artist of the year says your trophy doesn't matter, it starts to actually not matter. It pushed the conversation about transparency in voting committees into the mainstream, and frankly, the Grammys haven't felt the same since.
Breaking Down the Sonic Architecture
While "Blinding Lights" and "Save Your Tears" got the radio play, the deep cuts are where the real story lives. "Faith" is perhaps the most honest Abel has ever been. He sings about losing his religion and relapsing into old habits while riding in the back of a police car. It’s heavy stuff.
✨ Don't miss: Jack Blocker American Idol Journey: What Most People Get Wrong
The production credits read like a "who’s who" of modern music geniuses:
- Max Martin: The guy who basically owns pop music.
- Metro Boomin: The trap god who brought a darker, harder edge to tracks like "Escape from LA."
- Kevin Parker (Tame Impala): He lent his psychedelic touch to "Repeat After Me (Interlude)."
The transition from "Hardest to Love" into "Scared to Live" is a masterclass in album pacing. One is a drum-and-bass influenced track about being a toxic partner; the other is a sweeping ballad that interpolates Elton John's "Your Song." It shouldn't work. On paper, it's a mess. But in the context of the album’s narrative—a long, hallucinatory night in Vegas—it makes perfect sense.
The Visual Narrative and the "Character"
Abel spent the entire promo cycle in the "Red Suit" character. We saw him get his face beaten in "Blinding Lights," we saw him decapitated in "In Your Eyes," and we saw him undergo "plastic surgery" in "Save Your Tears."
This wasn't just for shock value. It was a commentary on the "plastic" nature of Hollywood and the physical toll of living under the spotlight. He was literally showing us the scars of his success. It made the music feel more like a performance art piece than just a standard album release. By the time he performed the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show, the red suit was iconic. He didn't need a costume change. He just needed a choir of clones with bandaged faces.
🔗 Read more: Why American Beauty by the Grateful Dead is Still the Gold Standard of Americana
The Influence on the "New 80s" Trend
After this album, everyone tried to make a synth-wave record. You could hear the echoes of After Hours in everything from Dua Lipa to Miley Cyrus. But most of those felt like they were just playing with the sounds, whereas Abel was playing with the feeling of the era—the paranoia, the excess, and the eventual crash.
What Most People Get Wrong
A common misconception is that After Hours is a breakup album. Sure, there are references to his high-profile relationships (the lyrics of "Save Your Tears" and "Heartless" have been picked apart by fans for years). But at its core, it’s a self-reflective album about loneliness. It’s about being the most famous person in a room and still feeling like a ghost.
The "After Hours" aren't the fun part of the night. They’re the hours where the drugs wear off, the sun starts to peak through the blinds, and you have to look at yourself in the mirror. That’s why it resonated so deeply during the lockdowns. We were all stuck in the after-hours of our own lives.
Actionable Insights for the Music Enthusiast
If you want to truly experience the depth of this era, don't just shuffle the hits.
- Watch the videos in order. Start with "Heartless," move to "Blinding Lights," then "Until I Bleed Out." It tells a literal chronological story of a night gone wrong.
- Listen to the "After Hours (Remixes)" EP. Specifically, the Chromatics remix of "Blinding Lights" provides a much more ethereal, moody take on the track that fits the album's darker themes.
- Pay attention to the transitions. This is a gapless album. Listen from "Alone Again" through "Faith" without pausing to hear how the soundscapes bleed into one another.
- Compare it to Dawn FM. To understand where Abel was going, you have to see After Hours as the "purgatory" before the "afterlife" themes of his following album. It’s part of a trilogy that is still unfolding.
The legacy of the record isn't just the billions of streams. It’s the fact that it proved a pop star could be weird, grotesque, and deeply vulnerable while still being the biggest act on the planet. It set a bar for world-building in music that very few artists have managed to hit since.