The Weeknd reveals that the next album will be inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic

It may have the fourth best-selling album of the year.

But The Weeknd is already thinking about the next big project.

Successful producer After Hours, 30, recently revealed in TMRW’s special release that both the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 will inspire his next album.

As his planned After Hours tour has been postponed until the summer of 2021, he said: “I’ve been more inspired and creative during the pandemic than I could normally be on the road.

Scroll down to see the video

“The pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the tensions of the election have mostly created a sense of gratitude for what I have and closeness to those close to me.”

Speaking of his unmistakable vocal skills, he said he was inspired by the growing Ethiopian music, before switching with his albums to portray different aspects for him.

“The older I got, the more music I was exposed to and my voice became a chameleon that went into different characters with each album. Following my own path and breaking the rules of the industry, it seems to influence others,” he said. to say.

Speaking about her career, the Starboy singer said, “At the time I was focused on laser and right now I’m focused on laser,” as he called it “the story” of his twenties.

“I feel like I’ve spent the last ten years creating a sound and most of my career I’ve been running away or duplicating it,” he shared.

It’s been an interesting few weeks for the star, as last month the Toronto-based star called the Grammys “corrupt” after he was scoured for nominations.

On social media, he wrote to the organizers: “They owe transparency to me, my fans and the industry …”

Insiders said artist Can’t Feel My Face’s camp suspected the lack of nominations was in response to the nasty back and forth about whether he would perform in the Super Bowl.

The artist, whose full name is Abel Tesfaye, released the album After Hours in March with strong sales and reviews, and won his favorite album – Soul / R & B at the American Music Awards this past Sunday.

Acting Head of Recording Academy Harvey Mason, jr. responded to the singer’s public complaints in a statement to Rolling Stone.

“We understand that Weeknd is disappointed not to be nominated,” he said. ‘It surprised me and I can empathize with what I feel. His music this year was excellent and his contributions to the music community and the world at large are worthy of everyone’s admiration.

Mason continued: “We would have loved to have also performed on the Grammy stage the weekend before the ‘Super Bowl.]Unfortunately, every year there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists.”

“To be clear, voting in all categories ended long before The Weeknd’s performance in the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process. All Grammy nominees are recognized by the voting body for their excellence and we congratulate them all ”.

Asked by Variety about the closing of The Weeknd, Mason said at the time, “Actually, it’s up to the voting body to decide.

We have eight application spaces to fill [the Big Four categories: Best Album, Song, Record and New Artist], five in others, and voters vote for their favorites. But it’s really interesting.

Mason talked about the process Grammy officials go through to find out which performers are nominated and in which categories.

‘We look at it every year and make modifications and revisions to the process; we did it this year, last year, we will do it next year. And I think that doesn’t call that into question, honestly, Mason said. “The process is there so we can continue to oversee excellence.”

The Weeknd previously took Starboy’s best contemporary urban album in 2018.