LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Weeknd revealed a previously unseen scene from his upcoming film “Hurry Up Tomorrow” on Wednesday, May 7, inspired by a real-life event.
Fans can access the exclusive scene on Instagram Reels using a password, which is “ICANTSING.” The clip depicts the singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, receiving a diagnosis of voice loss. This incident mirrors a real event that occurred at the start of his second SoFi Stadium show in Inglewood, California, in September 2022. However, in the film, the voice loss is attributed to a psychological condition rather than a physical injury.
The password for the Instagram Reels feature is similar to the 12-second interlude titled “I Can’t F–king Sing” from his latest album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” which topped the Billboard 200 chart. In the interlude, he exclaims, “No, it’s my f–king voice, OK? Listen, people, I can’t sing, I can’t f–king sing.”
“Hurry Up Tomorrow” is set to premiere in theaters on Friday, May 16. Directed by Trey Edward Shults and co-written and co-produced by The Weeknd, the film portrays a fictional version of the artist who is “plagued by insomnia” and embarks on an “odyssey with a stranger who begins to unravel the very core of his existence,” as described in its synopsis. The Weeknd stars alongside Jenny Ortega and Barry Keoghan, and he also scored the film in collaboration with Daniel Lopatin, also known as Oneohtrix Point Never.
In an interview with Fandango, The Weeknd explained that the film was conceived before the album. “The film came first. The album didn’t exist. We were scoring and writing music to picture,” he said. “The idea came from a real-life incident that had happened, and I always saw it as a film. The film came first, then the music.”