# Thursday (album)
**Thursday** is the second mixtape by the Canadian R&B singer the Weeknd, the stage name of Toronto artist Abel Tesfaye. Self-released for free download on August 18, 2011, it followed *House of Balloons* by five months and was the middle release of the three mixtapes the artist issued in 2011, the third being *Echoes of Silence* in December.[1](https://pitchfork.com/news/43571-the-weeknd-releases-thursday-mixtape/) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist | The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), Toronto; the project worked with producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/) |
| Release | Self-released as a free download on August 18, 2011; genre Pop/R&B[1](https://pitchfork.com/news/43571-the-weeknd-releases-thursday-mixtape/) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/) |
| Guest feature | Drake delivers an end-of-song verse on "The Zone"[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/) |
| Pitchfork score | 7.9, reviewed August 25, 2011 by Brandon Soderberg[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/) |
| 2011 reception | Ranked third-best mixtape of the year in the Pitchfork Readers Poll, behind *House of Balloons* and A$AP Rocky's *LIVELOVEA$AP*[3](https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/8747-2011-pitchfork-readers-poll/) |
| Later releases | Remixed and remastered on *Trilogy* (November 13, 2012, Universal Republic); original version reached streaming services for its 10th anniversary in August 2021[4](https://pitchfork.com/news/47813-the-weeknd-announces-official-release-of-mixtape-trilogy-teams-with-universal-republic/) • [5](https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-weeknds-thursday-mixtape-is-now-on-streaming-platforms-for-10th-anniversary-3023218) |
## Release and anonymity
The mixtape arrived in August 2011, dropped on the weekday from which it takes its title.[1](https://pitchfork.com/news/43571-the-weeknd-releases-thursday-mixtape/) At the time the project maintained a carefully managed anonymity: months after the debut, little was publicly known beyond the singer's name, a Drake co-sign, smoky black-and-white photographs disseminated through Tumblr, and a handful of unofficial but high-budget videos.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/) A campus paper reported that the tape boasted up to 180,000 downloads since its first day of release.[6](https://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/rcherry/documents/Excelsiorpage8.pdf)
## Music and themes
Thursday continues the drugged-up R&B of *House of Balloons* while pushing the sound into darker and more abrasive territory. Pitchfork's Brandon Soderberg described the production as slightly harsher and streaked with violence, matching the lyrical content: "Life of the Party" is built on doom-like guitar riffs, opening track "Lonely Star" carries drill'n'bass noises in the background, "Rolling Stone" begins with heavily processed guitar, and the closing "Heaven or Las Vegas" (not a [Cocteau Twins](https://www.edgepedia.org/cocteau-twins) cover) is interrupted late in the song by screeching effects and heavy echo.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/) Slant Magazine's Matthew Cole placed the palette even further from R&B convention, hearing mid-1990s trip-hop in the production, [Massive Attack](https://www.edgepedia.org/massive-attack)'s *Mezzanine* in "Lonely Star," and [Nine Inch Nails](https://www.edgepedia.org/nine-inch-nails) circa *The Downward Spiral* in "Life of the Party."[7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-weeknd-thursday/)
The lyrics are darker and more personal than on the debut. Cole characterized the record as a character study rather than the exposé of a scene, with every relationship, whether with women, money, or drugs, marked by dependency, compulsion, and abuse.[7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-weeknd-thursday/) The title itself is a metaphor for the dedicated partier's day, and the review in Pitchfork's *[Trilogy](https://www.edgepedia.org/trilogy-the-weeknd-album)* assessment reads the album as an hour-long exploration of people acknowledging a point of no return, in which what had been seductive becomes menacing; unlike *House of Balloons*, there is little sense of the songs taking place in a club.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17280-the-trilogy/) Several tracks carry meta-references: "Rolling Stone" names concerns that the singer's mystery is fading, and the album's final crooned words are "I am God."[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/)
**Drake's verse.** "The Zone" carries the tape's only featured verse, from Drake, who by then had co-signed the project on blogs and Twitter. Soderberg noted that Drake remains himself in a world far more debauched than his usual one, even advising a groupie to "be you," and that this introduction of an ethical point of view underlines the contrast between the collaborators.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/)
## Critical standing
Reception emphasized ambition over immediacy. Soderberg framed the record as avoiding the sophomore slump despite arriving five months after a self-assured debut, and credited the sequencing with a genuine sense of the album-as-journey.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/) Slant called it the archetypal "difficult follow-up to acclaimed debut," one that picks up the most experimental aspects of the first tape and runs with them.[7](https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-weeknd-thursday/) In the *Trilogy* review, Ian Cohen called Thursday "exactly the kind of 'difficult' second record" one would expect had the artist disappeared for two years, noting that it instead came just a few months after the first and incorporated influences far from the R&B mainstream.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17280-the-trilogy/) In the 2011 Pitchfork Readers Poll, Thursday placed third among best mixtapes of the year.[3](https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/8747-2011-pitchfork-readers-poll/)
Not every assessment ranked it at the top of the run: a Newcastle student paper wrote that the second mixtape does not particularly stand out next to the other two.[9](https://courierarchive.ncl.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2012-11-12.pdf)
## Later releases
In September 2012 Tesfaye announced the official release of his three free mixtapes as a single package, *Trilogy*, issued November 13, 2012 through a strategic partnership between his XO crew and Universal Republic, a division of [Universal Music Group](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-music-group). The set included new mixes and mastering plus three new songs recorded specifically for it.[4](https://pitchfork.com/news/47813-the-weeknd-announces-official-release-of-mixtape-trilogy-teams-with-universal-republic/) The Thursday portion gained the bonus track "Valerie," produced by Doc McKinney and [Illangelo](https://www.edgepedia.org/illangelo), which closes Disc Two.[10](https://www.ftrecord.com/liner-notes/the-weeknd-trilogy-2012) On the 2012 mixes, the tape sounds more polished than the original, and one remix later became available in a [Dolby Atmos](https://www.edgepedia.org/dolby-atmos) 2022 mix.[11](https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/d0ae475d-ee3b-4934-a442-631468867384)
For the 10th anniversary in August 2021, the original version of the mixtape reached streaming services for the first time, and anniversary vinyl and merchandise followed.[5](https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-weeknds-thursday-mixtape-is-now-on-streaming-platforms-for-10th-anniversary-3023218)
## References
1. [The Weeknd Releases Thursday Mixtape, Pitchfork (August 18, 2011)](https://pitchfork.com/news/43571-the-weeknd-releases-thursday-mixtape/)
2. [The Weeknd: Thursday Album Review, Pitchfork (Brandon Soderberg, August 25, 2011)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15754-thursday/)
3. [2011 Pitchfork Readers Poll](https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/8747-2011-pitchfork-readers-poll/)
4. [The Weeknd Announces Official Release of Mixtape Trilogy, Teams With Universal Republic, Pitchfork (September 11, 2012)](https://pitchfork.com/news/47813-the-weeknd-announces-official-release-of-mixtape-trilogy-teams-with-universal-republic/)
5. [The Weeknd's 'Thursday' mixtape is now on streaming for 10th anniversary, NME](https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-weeknds-thursday-mixtape-is-now-on-streaming-platforms-for-10th-anniversary-3023218)
6. [Arts and entertainment, Excelsior (CUNY)](https://userhome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/rcherry/documents/Excelsiorpage8.pdf)
7. [Review: The Weeknd, Thursday, Slant Magazine (Matthew Cole, August 31, 2011)](https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-weeknd-thursday/)
8. [The Weeknd: Trilogy Album Review, Pitchfork (Ian Cohen, November 13, 2012)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17280-the-trilogy/)
9. [Music reviews, The Courier (November 12, 2012)](https://courierarchive.ncl.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2012-11-12.pdf)
10. [Trilogy liner notes, FTR - For The Record](https://www.ftrecord.com/liner-notes/the-weeknd-trilogy-2012)
11. [Release group "Trilogy" by The Weeknd, MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/d0ae475d-ee3b-4934-a442-631468867384)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › EPs, mixtapes, and short-form releases › Hip-hop mixtapes*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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