The Weeknd announces ‘After Hours’ haunted houses at Universal Studios

nme.com:

The Weeknd is set to launch two haunted houses at Universal Studios in Hollywood and Universal’s Orlando resort, inspired by his 2020 album ‘After Hours’.The houses, named The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare, have been designed by Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights in collaboration with the singer himself.

They are based on the visuals and aesthetics from the album, and inspired by various horror and science fiction films.In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, The Weeknd noted that he had “always wanted” his own haunted house – especially one made by Halloween Horror Nights. “Halloween has always been significant to my music, so this is a total dream come to life,” he said.“I feel like my music videos have served as a launching pad for a collaboration like this, and I cannot wait for people to experience this madness.”Charles Gray – the senior show director at Universal’s Orlando resort – has described the new haunted houses as “a fever dream”. “What came out of it was extracting the nightmares: What would it be like if we were inside his head while he’s creating this album?”, he said.“It isn’t a retelling of the ‘After Hours’ album; it’s entering the nightmares that were the muse for his songs.”‘After Hours’ was released in March of 2020, and went on to be certified Platinum 20 times over worldwide.

It also hit Number One on the album charts in 21 different countries. Its single ‘Blinding Lights’ also achieved massive success, becoming the biggest single in Billboard Hot 100 history.Since the album’s release, The Weeknd has shared a new album entitled ‘Dawn FM’ and commenced his ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ stadium tour – which was briefly derailed earlier this month when the Toronto show had to be postponed due to a network.