The Weeknd has admitted he had reservations about releasing his album After Hours while the world was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Toronto-born singer put out his fourth studio album on March 20, as scheduled, despite some of his peers delaying their releases due to the global crisis.
“It's very bizarre,” The Weeknd told Billboard, via email. "At first, I felt like it might have been insensitive to release it, but to my fans I felt like I would have been doing a disservice to push it back.”
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Evidently, it was the right move. After Hours is No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and all 14 tracks on the album are on the Hot 100 chart – including “Blinding Lights” at No. 1. (A deluxe edition with five alternate versions and three bonus songs, was released on March 30.)
“Hopefully it can help some people escape our reality, if only for an hour out of their day,” The Weeknd said, “while we all work hard to get through this together.”