Throughout The Weeknd’s career, we’ve seen him introduce us to his dark and narcotic-fueled lifestyle; a cycle of seduction and drugs in Trilogy. Kissland had The Weeknd getting a taste of his medicine, experiencing heartbreak after trying to manipulate a new love. Beauty Behind The Madness had The Weeknd showing a bit more of a caring side while still repeating those same mistakes. Starboy was more of him flexing his life while continuing his sinful behaviors but also has him trying to improve. My Dear Melancholy has The Weeknd in his most vulnerable state, as he tells himself that he is going to revert to his sinful roots. The Weeknd has been stuck in the same cycle for years, as he rejects love, but also yearns for it despite his fears.
“After Hours” continues Abel’s conflicting personality: The Weeknd, the promise of pleasure and romance, and Abel, whose actions take a toll on him. The cycle that The Weeknd is in, consists of a cycle of love and loss. His bad habits make him repeat the same action so it comes as no surprise that we find him alone again by the start of the album.
“Alone Again,” has Abel at the end of another heartbreak which results in him fleeing to Las Vegas to avoid grief. He pushes himself to take drugs to numb the pain, but Abel fears overdosing.
“I took too much, I don’t wanna die.”
Track 2, “Too Late,” recounts the events that led him to Vegas in the first place. The song can be seen as a prelude to how he and his ex broke up. The lines reveal that he committed unfaithful actions which caused them to fall apart. Abel hints at the fact that it’s way too late to fix their relationship.
One thing to point out is that Abel doesn’t really take responsibility for his actions and instead blames what happened on their environment.
“I can’t trust where I live anymore.”
Despite that, on the next track(Hardest To Love) he seems fully aware that their relationship failure was on him. He stopped caring about the relationship and this is very common for Abel, we’ve seen it before in other albums. While Abel had moved on, his lover was having a hard time letting him go. Abel seems to keep her close in “Scared To Live,” but keeping her close only changes her view on love, she was only with him because of the fear she had of being alone.
Abel encourages her to move on and tells her that their relationship isn’t going to work out. Once again he encourages her to leave and to not be afraid to live her life.
“So don’t be scared to live again…we fell apart, right from the start.”
“Snowchild,” has Abel reflecting on his life and how far he has come and he finally starts showing gratitude for the lost relationship. In 2011 Abel dreamed of going to California, in 2015 he reminisced about his city and wants to go back, and in After Hours he finally takes the next step in leaving Los Angeles (Escape From La). The reason for this was because of the fact that LA was breaking him and his lover.
His fame gave him a lot of temptations and Abel acknowledges that it’s hurting his overall relationships. Abel makes it clear that he doesn’t want to lose that.
“Got everything I wanted, but I’d be nothing without you.”
Abel quickly switches up when someone pulls up to his studio and ends up getting intimidated by them. This could’ve been the incident that left Abel alone again or this is just another act he does before leaving. That action makes him wonder if LA is the cause of his problems or if it’s just him.
In Vegas, his tone completely changes. No longer having his lost love, he goes back to doing hardcore drugs and having intimacy with other people, because he believes that all he has is fame and money.
“And I’m back to my ways ’cause I’m heartless all this money and this pain got me heartless.” – Track 7(Heartless)
His actions make him feel heartless, but the only reason he feels that way is because he lost someone he held close. He wants to be better, but when he’s faced with temptation, he can’t help but get drawn in. His lover still hasn’t lost faith, but Abel has.
Every time Abel is given the chance to redeem himself, he ends up taking the path of sin instead. In “Faith,” it seems like Abel can’t love anybody because he can’t respect himself. He abuses his body as a weak response and his acting irrationally lands him in what sounds like either an ambulance or cop car.
“I ended up in the back of a flashing car.”
We see that this alone time in Vegas has him wanting his ex back and in “Blinding Lights” we see that the nightlife has caused Abel to be blinded by his fame which results in him being empty inside, but on “In Your Eyes,” he finds out that she’s been fine without him. The tables have literally turned, now he’s trying to make it work with this woman.
Abel doesn’t mind looking past her mistakes, but each time he looks at her, he can’t help but remember his own mistakes and what he’s done to her. They end up going different paths, but Abel ends up running into her in what seems like a party in “Save Your Tears.”
It seems like at this event, she wants nothing to do with Abel anymore.
“But you walked passed me like I wasn’t there and just pretended like you didn’t care…take my back ’cause I wanna stay…I realize that I’m much too late and you deserve someone better.”
He hasn’t given up on her, but he knows that she does deserve better, or perhaps he just wants us to think that. In “Repeat After Me,” he tells himself that she’s just with someone else out of spite, he is in such denial that he’s manipulating himself into believing that she hasn’t moved on.
In “After Hours,” Abel finds that his attempt to fix himself has been completely useless. He becomes even more in denial and even seems like he wants to commit suicide and dream about her. To be in eternal sleep.
“Put myself to sleep just so I can get close to you inside my dreams.”
He’s begging for her and for her forgiveness, but deep down he knows he’ll never receive it.
“This time I won’t break your heart, your heart, no.”
This is the cycle that The Weeknd is stuck in. Throughout his discography, he’s hurt women and has been on the receiving side of hurt too, but despite all the heartbreak, he was able to get through it.
After Hours seems to be continuing that cycle but this time he can’t fix it. By the time he realizes that what he had was special, it’s too late, and by the album’s conclusion Abel is paralyzed from overdosing and the weight of his emotions. He’s exhausted from hurting everybody around him, he thought he would do better, but he’s only made it worse. He’s looking into himself hoping for something good to reflect and he tries to convince himself that he doesn’t need the love to be happy.
“I keep telling myself I don’t need it anymore. Need it anymore.” -Track 14(Until I Bleed Out)
In the end, After Hours can be seen in multiple different ways either the story of heartbreak or the crucial brutality of the music industry. After Hours is the beginning of a new trilogy, the death of The Weeknd.