Belly co-wrote two of the biggest songs on The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow, its opener “Wake Me Up” and the single “Cry for Me.” The credits, listed under his government name Ahmad Balshe, are the latest chapter in one of the most quietly dominant songwriting runs in Canadian music.
The Opener: Wake Me Up
Every album makes its first impression once, and The Weeknd trusted Belly to help make his. “Wake Me Up,” the opening track of Hurry Up Tomorrow, pairs Abel with French electronic duo Justice over production from The Weeknd, Justice, Mike Dean, and Johnny Jewel. The writing credits read like a bridge between eras: Tesfaye, the Justice duo, Dean, John Padgett, Vincent Taurelle, a posthumous credit for “Thriller” writer Rod Temperton thanks to a Michael Jackson interpolation, and Ahmad Balshe. Critics received the song as a scene setter for the most ambitious project of The Weeknd’s career, and it later appeared in the Hurry Up Tomorrow feature film, which arrived in theaters in May 2025.
For Belly, the placement continues a pattern. He has songwriting credits across The Weeknd’s catalog stretching back to the Echoes of Silence mixtape in 2011. When the biggest artist in the world opens his album, the Ottawa-raised writer is in the room and on the paperwork.
Cry for Me Runs the Charts
If “Wake Me Up” set the tone, “Cry for Me” did the commercial damage. Released as a single on February 4, 2025, the record was written by Tesfaye, Mike Dean, Metro Boomin, Balshe, Karen Patterson, and Curtis Williams, with production from The Weeknd, Dean, and Metro Boomin. Its stark black and white video, self-directed by The Weeknd and built around the idea of a penthouse prison, landed a week later and pushed the song further into the culture.
The numbers followed. “Cry for Me” reached the top ten in both Canada and the United Kingdom, climbed to number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped charts in Greece. In April 2025 it hit number one on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart, giving The Weeknd his 15th number one at the format and making Hurry Up Tomorrow his first album to produce multiple Rhythmic Airplay number ones since Starboy. The parent album, released January 31, 2025, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and Belly’s name sits on the credits of its opening statement and one of its biggest singles.
The Pen Behind the Curtain
“Warner Chappell was my first home, a place I was able to build lasting relationships and build myself into the writer I am today. I’m excited to continue this partnership and make more history together.” (Belly)
History is the right word. Belly co-wrote six songs on Beauty Behind the Madness, including “Earned It,” which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. He co-wrote “Blinding Lights,” which Billboard named the greatest Hot 100 hit of all time. He helped craft “6 Inch” for Beyonce’s Lemonade and “Love Me Harder” for Ariana Grande, and his contributions run across roughly half of After Hours. Warner Chappell co-chair Guy Moot put it plainly when the company extended Belly’s publishing deal, calling him one of the most impactful and versatile songwriters and artists of our time. Seven billion streams across his catalog back that up.
His Own Catalog Keeps Moving
None of this comes at the expense of Belly the artist. His fourth studio album, 96 Miles from Bethlehem, arrived in 2024 as a deeply personal statement from the Palestinian-Canadian MC, born in Jenin and raised in Ottawa after his family immigrated to Canada. Before that came Mumble Rap 2 in 2023, a full project with producer Hit-Boy featuring Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, and NAV, a nice reminder that the XO family’s pen game and solo catalogs feed each other. Add See You Next Wednesday, Immigrant, and the gold-certified debut The Revolution, and the solo resume stands on its own.
That is what makes the Hurry Up Tomorrow credits land the way they do. Belly is not a guest in The Weeknd’s world. He is one of its architects, a Songwriter of the Year honoree at the SOCAN Awards who has been shaping Canadian music’s biggest exports for over a decade while building a catalog of his own. When the credits roll on the number one album in the world and his name is on the first song people hear, that is not a footnote. That is the story.
