The Weeknd’s new era is swiftly approaching. On Tuesday (Oct. 19), the “Blinding Lights” singer teased his followers with a brief snippet of a new song titled “Moth to a Flame” in collaboration with electronic supergroup Swedish House Mafia, which he promised to be out sometime “this week.”
The enigmatic visual sees The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) basking in teal colored light and wearing pitch black sunglasses to shield his eyes. The song’s instrumental — a menacing synth that sounds much like a continuation of the singer’s highly successful After Hours era (“Blinding Lights” became the longest-charting song in Hot 100 history this fall) — blares in the background before the title flashes in bold white lettering by the end of the clip.
Swedish House Mafia is currently managed by Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, the Weeknd’s long-time manager. Tesfaye’s forthcoming song with Swedish House Mafia comes on the heels of revamping his 2022 After Hours Til Dawn tour to reach multiple continents globally and expanding the concert dates to stadiums.
“The tour dates are moving and will commence in the summer of 2022,” the 31-year-old wrote on his official Twitter page. “Due to the constraints of arenas and the demand for more shows I want to do something bigger and special for you which requires more stadiums.” Live Nation is promoting the upcoming 2022 tour; he is repped by WME.
Previous ticket holders’ purchases will not be honored for the news dates, but will be given priority access to buy new tickets for the revamped tour dates. “Current tickets will be refunded automatically and all ticket holders will be given priority to buy tickets for the stadium shows when they go on sale. New dates forthcoming,” he concluded the announcement.
It is currently unclear if “Moth to a Flame” will appear on his upcoming album, but he did reveal that his tentatively titled Dawn (XO/Republic) album is finished on the Oct. 5 episode of his Apple Music 1 radio show Memento Mori. “Some exciting features coming out in the fall before the album drops. … Some Dawn updates: Album is complete,” Tesfaye explained. “Only thing that’s missing is a couple of characters who are key to the narrative — some people that are near and dear to me, some people that inspired my life as a child and some that inspire me now. More to come in the following months.”
See The Weeknd’s teaser for “Moth to a Flame” below.
