The Weeknd shares bold artwork and release date for new album Dawn FM

The Weeknd has announced the release date and eye-catching artowk of his new album, Dawn FM.

In a semi-surprise drop, the record will drop in full this Friday (January 7) distributed by Republic Records and XO.

On the cover for the LP, Abel Tesafaye appears to be heavily aged-up, wearing facial prosthetics and staring dead-eyed into the camera. 

The Weeknd first announced the news on his Twitter account yesterday, after previous posts teased the possibility that he might surprise drop the entire in one go. 

Dawn FM will be the follow-up to The Weeknd's fourth studio album, the super-charged After Hours. So far, the LP has been trailled by the new single Take My Breath, another collaboration with Swedish pop superproducer Max Martin (Blinding Lights, Can't Feel My Face).

In an accompanying post to the announcement, The Weeknd teased the involvement of legendary producer Quincy Jones in the project, alongside actor Jim Carrey (possibly in a long-form music video), as well as Tyler, The Creator, Lil Wayne and Oneohtrix Point Never.

album cover // pre-save : https://t.co/MDAeut3QY4 pic.twitter.com/96PbZGJA83

— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) January 4, 2022

MORE: The Weeknd's Top 20 biggest songs

The Weeknd previously spoke about the "politically charged" material he had been working on for his fifth album last year following After Hours' release at the beginning of 2020. 

Upon its release, After Hours became The Weeknd's second Number 1 album on the Official Albums Chart. Its biggest hit, the Max Martin-produced Blinding Lights, spent a mammoth eight weeks at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart. 

According to Official Charts Company data, the songs from the After Hours era have tallied a combined 651.5 million streams in the UK. The album contained a further two Top 10 hits for The Weeknd in the form of lead single Heartless (Number 10) and Save Your Tears (Number 2) which was boosted by a remix with Ariana Grande.