The Weeknd Debuts New Song Sampling ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ Theme in Japan

The Weeknd has debuted an unreleased new song that samples one of the most iconic pieces of music in anime history, premiering the track live at the opening of the Asian leg of his After Hours Til Dawn tour.

Performing Friday (Sept. 19) at Belluna Dome in Saitama, near Tokyo, the singer — real name Abel Tesfaye — gave the song its live debut alongside Japanese singer Yoko Takahashi. The track, dubbed “Tokyo,” incorporates elements of “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” the 1995 J-pop song Takahashi recorded as the opening theme to the landmark anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.

During the segment, Takahashi also performed “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” in full as Tesfaye stepped back and watched from the rear of the stage.

The performance was staged as a full multimedia collaboration. The accompanying visuals were directed by Yoko Taro, the creative director behind the NieR video game series, and drew on imagery from both Neon Genesis Evangelion and 2017’s NieR: Automata. Tesfaye credited the piece on social media only as “Presented by YOKO TARO ft. YOKO TAKAHASHI.”

It’s the second unreleased, city-linked song Tesfaye has unveiled on the current tour. In April, he debuted a track dubbed “Rio” with Brazilian star Anitta during a show in Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by an animated film directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike. The steady stream of new material is notable given that Tesfaye had repeatedly signaled he intended to retire the Weeknd name after his 2025 album Hurry Up Tomorrow, which completed a trilogy begun with After Hours (2020) and Dawn FM (2022).

He has since reversed course, and pointedly. “I’ll never disappear. I love this too much to ever disappear,” he told a Stockholm crowd last month. “I tested retirement a little bit, and I don’t like the way it feels. Imma be here forever with you.” He reiterated the sentiment to 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 launched in 2022, has become the highest-grossing tour by a male solo artist in history. The Asian run continues to Jakarta on Sept. 26-27, followed by Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok and Hong Kong, before concluding in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 4. One of the most commercially dominant artists of the streaming era, the Weeknd has notched five No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 — Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), Starboy (2016), the My Dear Melancholy EP (2018), After Hours (2020) and Hurry Up Tomorrow, which posted his biggest sales week to date with 490,500 units. His Hot 100 No. 1s include “Can’t Feel My Face,” “Starboy,” “Heartless,” “Save Your Tears” and “Blinding Lights,” the last of which Billboard named the No. 1 song on its all-time Hot 100 chart.