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The Weeknd shares how his music from his album Hurry Up Tomorrow helps tell the story of his new movie of the same name, his inspiration for how the song works through the movie, why he decided to include his older songs in the movie and more with Billboard‘s Senior R&B, Hip-Hop & Afrobeats Writer Heran Mamo.

Heran Mamo:Heran Mamo from Billboard, as you know …

The Weeknd:Yes, how are you?

Heran MamoI’m good. How are you?

The Weeknd:I’m good, I’m good.

Heran Mamo:Good, well, congratulations on the film.

The Weeknd:Thank you.

Heran Mamo:Exciting to see you venture out into, you know, different mediums. But also I feel like knowing how much you love film, it’s such a natural progression to see your career go this way.

The Weeknd:Thank you.

Heran Mamo:One thing I wanted to know is, obviously you said in previous interviews that the film came before the album. Yeah, and you hear a lot of the like, the songs in the film, like, “Wake Me Up,” Cry for Me,” “Drive,” etc. Were those made specifically for the film and then later appeared on the album, and then all the other songs on Hurry Up Tomorrow the album, like, “Enjoy the Show,” “Reflections,” “Laughing,” etc., made when you realize, “Oh, OK, now this is gonna become an album”?

The Weeknd:Yeah. So there are certain songs that we needed completed for the film. Obviously, that performance drive was actually it wasn’t complete, but the idea was there, but we always wanted a performance song, like it was like, “What’s a concert song that we can open the film with, and in the vein of a pop record of live performance,” and “Wake Me Up,” was kind of the inspiration some of the stuff that Justice was doing. We always wanted that to kind of hit in that type of way. So, so there are certain songs, and then, of course, the the title track, the title song. That’s that idea.

You know, I was really inspired by, by Robert Altman, The Long Goodbye, where there’s this one song that you you hear it throughout the entire film. That’s what different iterations of it. When you hear it on the radio, you hear like a pop version of it, and you know, subjectively in the score, you know, diegetically, like a mariachi band will sing it every time he’s like when he goes to Mexico. And I kind of wanted to do that with Hurry Up Tomorrow, where you know, you hear, you know, pieces of this song throughout the film. It’s essentially you’re you’re seeing the making of it, not literally me making it, but like the themes and the concept and the melody and the soul of it is being made throughout the film. And you hear it the DNA is you. You hear it in the in the in the score. But eventually, by the end of it, it’s fully blossomed into this, this song, which essentially is what the film is saying. And funny enough, I actually had to finish the lyrics so that the night before, I had to perform it at the end. So yes, this music is very much a big part of the film. It came after, but it is like a sister piece. They don’t exist without each other.

Watch the full video above!