The Weeknd has debuted an unreleased song featuring elements of “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis”, the iconic theme from the Japanese anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, performed the song live on Friday, Sept. 19, at Belluna Dome in Saitama, near Tokyo, during the opening show of his Asian tour.
The track, referred to as “Tokyo”, features Japanese singer Yoko Takahashi, who originally recorded “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” for the 1995 anime series.
Takahashi also performed the original song in full during the segment as Tesfaye watched from the back of the stage.
The performance combined music, animation and imagery from Japanese pop culture.
The accompanying visuals were directed by Yoko Taro, the creative director behind the NieR video game series.
The visuals drew from both Neon Genesis Evangelion and NieR: Automata, the 2017 action role-playing game.
Tesfaye credited the collaboration on social media as “Presented by YOKO TARO ft. YOKO TAKAHASHI.”
“Tokyo” is the second unreleased city-themed song Tesfaye has introduced during his current tour.
In April, he performed an unreleased track called “Rio” with Brazilian singer Anitta during his concert in Rio de Janeiro.
That performance was accompanied by an animated film directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike.
The new material comes after Tesfaye repeatedly indicated that he planned to retire the Weeknd name following his 2025 album Hurry Up Tomorrow.
The album completed a trilogy that began with After Hours in 2020 and continued with Dawn FM in 2022.
Tesfaye has since changed his position on retirement.
“I’ll never disappear. I love this too much to ever disappear,” he told a Stockholm audience last month.
“I tested retirement a little bit, and I don’t like the way it feels. Imma be here forever with you.”
He repeated the sentiment in an interview with GQ Hong Kong this week. I had a glimpse of what retirement looks like, and it isn’t for me… There’s nothing else like this job.”
The After Hours Til Dawn tour, which began in 2022, has become the highest-grossing tour by a male solo artist in history.
The Asian leg continues in Jakarta on Sept. 26 and 27, followed by Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok and Hong Kong.
The tour is scheduled to conclude in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 4.
The Weeknd has also recorded five No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200: Beauty Behind the Madness, Starboy, My Dear Melancholy, After Hours and Hurry Up Tomorrow.
Hurry Up Tomorrow recorded his biggest sales week to date with 490,500 equivalent album units.
His Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles include “Can’t Feel My Face”, “Starboy”, “Heartless”, “Save Your Tears” and “Blinding Lights.”
Billboard named “Blinding Lights” the No. 1 song on its all-time Hot 100 chart.
Erizia Rubyjeana
Follow us on:
