The Weeknd's New Album is Outshined by New Lawsuit with Kendrick Lamar

Frequent in surprise releases, The Weeknd dropped the first single ‘After Hours’ days before Thanksgiving, accompanied by the ‘Heartless’ music video themed with a trippy “Fear and Loathing” style Las Vegas night out.

Weeks later, the artist also released the music video to ‘Blinding Lights’ themed the exact same way, giving the impression of being a sequel or prequel to the one before. The Weeknd continued this theme, dawning the same suit on multiple appearances performing both songs. This includes an iconic appearance on the Stephen Colbert show.

The Weeknd is no stranger to creating iconic moments where he becomes the subject or center of attention, as he describes through the lyrics of his last album ‘Starboy’ which hit record breaking levels on multiple streaming platforms in its first week.

With Starboy, the Canadian singer, collaborated with the French Electro legends Daft Punk on multiple singles - with the appearance of many other A-List musicians sprinkled throughout the album. This sets a high bar for the upcoming March album.

However, recent news of a new lawsuit may be affecting his ability to prepare for the upcoming release.

The Weeknd, along with collaborator Kendrick Lamar, have been accused of stealing music from New York-based rock band Yeasayer with the Black Panther album’s third single, “Pray For Me.”

The legal documents claim the artists pulled material from Yeasayer’s 2007 song “Sunrise” and slightly altered it purposefully with “intent to conceal the infringement.” No additional details have been provided, but it is clear that the case is independent of this upcoming album release as the singer is set for multiple appearances and an upcoming tour.

The Weeknd is still scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live on March 7th to promote the new album. It will be his third appearance on the show. He previously performed hits ‘Starboy’, ‘The Hills’, and ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ with countless other appearances on the SNL stage with Future and other features.

The Memento Mori and XO creator has also been featured in a few SNL skits where his calm demeanor and dry comedy has given fans an inside look on his humor. Without a doubt Abel is a performer at heart, regardless of his claims of being “Heartless”.