The Weeknd will bring the ‘The Weeknd: After Hours’ to Universal Studios.
The ‘Blinding Lights’ hitmaker – real name Abel Tesfaye – will lend his creativity – including his signature red suit – to the amusement park’s yearly hotly anticipated Halloween Horror Nights event, a long-term dream of the musician.
The 32-year-old rapper told Entertainment Weekly: “I always wanted my own Halloween Horror Nights haunted house, as Halloween has always been significant to my music, so this is a total dream come to life. I feel like my music videos have served as a launching pad for a collaboration like this, and I cannot wait for people to experience this madness!”
The organisers of the event – which will open on 2 September at Universal Orlando Resort and 8 September at Universal Studios Hollywood with tickets are available now – love that the Weeknd is bringing the imagery of his latest album to the much-loved spooky celebration, calling it a “fever dream”.
Charles Gray, the senior show director said: “What came out of it was extracting the nightmares: What would it be like if we were inside his head while he’s creating this album?,” noting that the Grammy winner’s adoration for flicks such as ‘A Clockwork Orange’, ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’, and ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ runs through the visuals and a not a simple “retelling” of the 2020 LP.
He added: “It isn’t a retelling of the ‘After Hours’ album; it’s entering the nightmares that were the muse for his songs. “There’s a lot of surrealistic, horrific imagery as we [expanded upon scenarios] inspired by the videos.”
John Murdy, Halloween Horror Night’s executive producer said: “The first thing we do once we enter the house proper is go into a sequence called ‘Nightmare Extraction’, where you see The Weeknd, almost like in ‘Clockwork Orange’, where he’s strapped into a chair with a headset, and the headset is connected to all these different monitors. All this darkness going on inside his head creating this album is being sucked out, and you’re seeing these images flash subliminally, like the whole thing is about to explode.”
“All of that stuff that’s getting pulled out of his head, we’re going to have to face all of those things and dark places he went to in creating the album.”
The house – which will feature six of The Weeknd’s tracks; ‘After Hours’, ‘In Your Eyes’, ‘Blinding Lights’, ‘Save Your Tears’ (solo version) and ‘Too Late’ – will be split up in three section, which will be able to be explored after a immersion in his subsconous.