The Weeknd has recruited Playboi Carti to help debut a new single just hours after he unveiled the cover art for his new album.
The singer born Abel Tesfaye performed an epic concert at MorumBIS Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Saturday (September 7).
The show, which was also livestreamed on YouTube, featured a brand new stage design, plus a number of new songs from The Weeknd’s forthcoming album, Hurry Up Tomorrow.
For one of those new joints, he brought Playboi Carti, with whom he has previously collaborated on last year’s “Popular.” Carti also performed his Travis Scott collab “FE!N.”
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Just hours before the performance, the Canadian crooner shared the new cover art for Hurry Up Tomorrow on Instagram, where he had revealed the project’s title four days prior.
He captioned the photo of the artwork, which consists simply of his face, with an announcement that the pre-order link for the upcoming project is accessible through the bio on his IG profile. An official release date for the album has yet to be confirmed.
PLAYBOI CARTI
THE WEEKNDNEW SONG
🚨LIVE IN SÃO PAULO🚨pic.twitter.com/ZDMqHteRit
— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) September 8, 2024
While it’s unclear if the new collab will wind up on Hurry Up Tomorrow or Carti’s highly anticipated forthcoming album, rap fans from all walks of life are practically begging the “New Tank” rapper to drop his new project.
The rapper can’t even use a Finsta account without getting reminded that he hasn’t released an album in four years, as the NBA’s Orlando Magic demonstrated.
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Earlier this month, Carti posted to his opium_00pium IG a number of photos of him wearing a Penny Hardaway jersey from his days on the Magic.
That same day, the Magic’s official X account reposted one of the photos, captioning it: “drop the album @playboicarti.”
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The Magic’s playful post amused both basketball and Carti fans.
“[You know] its bad when the orlando magic tellin you to drop the album,” one person commented.
“Magic got 22 year olds running the socials,” said another.
Carti’s last album Whole Lotta Red was released in late 2020.
In Carti’s recent Billboard cover story, producer Cardo — whose credits include Drake‘s “God’s Plan,” Travis Scott‘s “Goosebumps” and Kendrick Lamar‘s “Euphoria” — suggested that he and the Atlanta rapper have pioneered a whole new subgenre with the project.
“Carti’s style is in constant evolution, and he and Cardo already have a name for the sound they’ve been workshopping for the project: ‘burnt music,’” the article reads.
“We’ll be in the studio, like, ‘This music is burnt,’” explained Cardo, who soundtracked Carti’s recent singles “H00DBYAIR,” “EVILJ0RDAN” and the Travis Scott-assisted “BACKR00MS.”
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The producer also cited Three 6 Mafia’s DJ Paul and Juicy J, DJ Toomp, The Legendary Traxster and even John Carpenter — the director and composer behind classic horror movies like Halloween, The Thing and Escape From New York — as influences for I Am Music.
