The Weeknd Preps New Project with 'House of Balloons' Team

The Weeknd is back in the lab. After conquering the pop world with his Grammy-winning album Beauty Behind the Madness, Abel is back where he started for his next project.

In a new Vogue profile, the XO singer reveals that he has reunited in the studio with his House of Balloons team, but is working on something entirely different. “It’s a new thing,” he says. “Always a new thing.”

So, what exactly are they working on? “It could be an album or it could be something else,” says The Weeknd. “But whatever it is, music is being made.”

House of Balloons, a 2011 mixtape that helped introduce his sound, is an important part of Abel’s history. “Nothing sounded like what we were doing, because R&B was hard to listen to back then,” he explains. “The genre was dying.”

Taylor Swift agrees. “He was like nothing else out there,” she tells Vogue. “Right now, the radio is peppered with hints of production elements and vocal stylings that were very likely inspired by The Weeknd. In our industry, that’s the surest sign you’re doing something right.”

Naomi Campbell also showers the Toronto crooner with praise in the article. “What I love is that he kept himself hidden for so long, not showing his face,” she says. “The music speaks for itself.”