The Weeknd announces return to Halloween Horror Nights with “nightmare trilogy”

8 August, 2024

The Weeknd. Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images

The Weeknd has announced he’ll be returning to Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood with a new haunted house. Check out more details below.

In 2022, the singer launched two haunted houses at the theme park, which were based on the visuals and aesthetics from his 2019 album ‘After Hours‘ — a record inspired by various horror and science-fiction films.

At the time, The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, shared that he had “always wanted” his own haunted house – especially one made by Halloween Horror Nights. “Halloween has always been significant to my music, so this is a total dream come to life,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2022.

Now, the ‘Blinding Lights’ singer is returning with a new haunted house called ‘The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy’. The experience will include music by The Weeknd and his frequent collaborator and seven-time Grammy-winning producer Mike Dean.

Halloween Horror Nights commence on September 5 and will continue on select nights until November 3. Check out the official announcement video below.

Since January, The Weeknd has been teasing an upcoming third chapter to his ongoing ‘After Hours’ and ‘Dawn FM’ trilogy. Last month he shared a snippet of what appears to be a new song on social media, accompanied by a cinematic teaser and a mysterious caption quoting German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “When you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you…”

Then, on Tuesday (August 6) he shared another taste of new music, with a dark teaser video that includes two new songs. In line with the horror theme, the second track seems to hint at an ominous force, as he sings “You can change locations, you can change your name / They will always find a way”.

It’s thought that new music will be debuted at the musician’s recently announced “one-night-only” show in Brazil, which will feature “never-before-seen production”. The gig, which will take place on September 7 at the Estádio MorumBIS venue in São Paulo, will also see The Weeknd join forces with the UN World Food Programme, and donate $1 (77p) from every ticket sold to the XO Humanitarian Fund in a bid to end the global hunger crisis. Tickets are on sale now, and you can get yours here.

The final addition to the trilogy will mark the first album from The Weeknd since 2022’s ‘Dawn FM’. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “‘Dawn FM’ feels like the first steps on a journey for The Weeknd to find peace with himself; perhaps next time we hear from him, he’ll be fully embracing the light of day.”

In other news, it was reported earlier this year that The Weeknd’s huge hit single ‘Blinding Lights’ had become the first song in history to reach 4billion streams on Spotify. Named Spotify’s most-streamed song of all time, the track featured on his ‘After Hours’ album, which was released at the end of 2019.

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