The Weeknd On How His Music Helps Tells the Story of 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' & More | Billboard News

Terán Ramo from Billboard as you know. Yes, how are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. Good, well congratulations on the film. Thank you. It's so exciting to see you venture out into, you know, different mediums but also I feel like knowing how much you love film it's such a natural progression to see your career go this way. Thank you. One thing I wanted to know is obviously you said in previous interviews that the film came before the album. Yeah. And you hear a lot of the songs in the film like Wake Me Up, Cry For Me, Drive, etc. Were those made specifically for the film and then later appeared on the album and then all the other songs on Hurry Up Tomorrow, the album, like Enjoy The Show, Reflections, Laughing, etc. made when you realized oh okay now this is going to become an album? Yeah, so there are certain songs that we needed completed for the film obviously. That performance, Drive was actually, it wasn't complete but the idea was there. But we always wanted a performance song like it was like what's a concert song that we can open the film with and in the vein of a pop record, a live performance and Wake Me Up was kind of the inspiration. Some of the stuff that Justice was doing we always wanted that to kind of hit that type of way. So there are certain songs and then of course the title song. That idea, you know, I was really inspired by Robert Altman, The Long Goodbye where there's this one song that you hear it throughout the entire film. Different iterations of it. When you hear it on the radio you hear like a pop version of it and you know subjectively in the score, you know diegetically like a mariachi band will sing it every time he's like, when he goes to Mexico. And I kind of wanted to do that with Hurry Up Tomorrow where you know you hear pieces of this song throughout the film. It's essentially you're seeing the making of it. Not literally me making it but like the themes and the concept and the melody and the soul of it is being made throughout the film and you hear it, the DNA's, you hear it in the score but eventually by the end of it it's fully blossomed into this song which essentially is what the film is saying. And funny enough I actually had to finish the lyrics of that the night before I had to perform it at the end. So yes, this music is very much a big part of the film. It came after but it is like a sister piece. They don't exist without each other. Yeah totally and I think fans would be like interested to see that not only do you hear songs from Hurry Up Tomorrow but you hear two more songs from your older catalog, Blinding Lights and Clean. What was the significance of including that in the film? I think just getting to the meat and potatoes of what these songs are saying, what my past catalog is saying. What I am doing by the end of the film is I'm lighting my persona up on fire. Luckily I get to do it on 35 millimeter but to tap into that you need to kind of go into the back catalog a little bit and take in what I'm saying in some of these lyrics and how they're kind of masked by pop elements. It's like one of those it's always been that joke with the weekend music where it's like oh it makes you like you know sing and dance and it feels jolly and then when you actually get into the themes of it it's something much more deeper and maybe a call for help who knows that's how she's reading it. And essentially just forcing myself to face myself essentially that's what she's doing. So yeah I think that's did I answer your question? I don't know if I answered your question. And then my last question I know that you and Mike Dean obviously scored The Idol together and then you scored Hurry Up Tomorrow the film with Daniel O'Patton. What were the similarities and differences between those two experiences? Well Mike look Mike's my brother my OG so everything I do he's a part of so he was still a part of the process with while Dan was scoring it Mike was still very much there. I mean Dan and I really look up to Mike and always want his advice and you know have him do his passes and just help elevate whatever we're doing. But the process was I mean it was great I mean these are I mean I've known OPN for years I've known him since you know before Uncut Gems. I think during Good Time I met him I was introduced to him by Josh and Benny Safdie and ever since we met we were inseparable. Our career trajectory is kind of the same in the sense where you know I was kind of like an underground king in my realm and he was underground king in his realm around the same time and we kind of blossomed in our own way and we really bonded over that and bonded over just kind of you know our ambitions just kind of changed what music sounds like at the time and this this is no different. I think we really wanted to do something new we wanted to do something we've never seen on screen or heard on screen before and you know Johnny Burn was saying that this is the our sound designer incredible talented he worked on Trey's film Waves and Zone of Interest he said it's I think the biggest like stem session he's ever worked on like he it was a real juggernaut of a score and I but I trust the people involved I trust Trey I trust Dan I trust Johnny and Mike and we're able to do these big swings and I think I think they landed well in the film. I'm really proud of the music and I'm proud of the sonics of it and it's much different from the album it's like its own experience. For sure very beautifully blended but also just kind of like you said like sister pieces where you can appreciate one for what it is and the other for what it is but see how it combines.