The Weeknd has pulled off a marketing coup with his new album, Hurry Up Tomorrow.
He’s partnered with the estate of the late, acclaimed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat for The Weeknd X Basquiat collection, which includes vinyls, autographed CDs and a box including a T-shirt and album. A longtime fan of the artist, Weeknd writes that it’s his privilege to present the collection.
All the merch in the limited-edition collection features a sketch from Basquiat’s sketchbook, drawn when he was 17. It depicts a man holding onto a balloon and floating above a group of figures labeled “working class heroes” and structures that are each labeled “unfinished building.” Above it are the words “upon leaving the ‘norm.'”
According to a press release, the image “speaks to the album” and also calls back to The Weeknd’s House of Balloons era. You can preorder the collection now; the album is due out Jan. 24.
Basquiat was a musician as well as an artist and a key figure in New York City’s early ’80s downtown art scene. His works mixed text and imagery and often contained social commentary about racism. A media star who dated Madonna, Basquiat’s works were already commanding huge sums by the time he died in 1988 at age 27 of a heroin overdose. One of his paintings sold for a record-breaking $110.5 million in 2017.
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