With his stage name, the Canadian artist has established himself as one of the big names in music of the 2010s and 2020s, between pop and dark R&B.
A few days before walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, global pop music superstar The Weeknd returns to his roots by reclaiming his real identity, Abel Tesfaye, and promising that he will eventually “kill” his stage name.
On social networks, like Twitter, where he has 17 million subscribers and Instagram (55.6 million), the accounts of the interpreter of Blinding Lights made the two identities coexist on Monday, May 15. An evolution that owes nothing to chance, explained the 33-year-old artist born in Canada to Ethiopian parents, in a recent interview with the fashion magazine W, where he talks about “a cathartic experience“.
A bygone era
“I arrive at a time when I am preparing to close the Weeknd chapter. I will continue to make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill the Weeknd. And I will. One day or another. I’m really trying to get rid of this skin and be reborn“, he develops. He nevertheless indicates that he will use his stage name one last time for his next album, on which he is currently working. “As The Weeknd, I said all I could say“.
With his stage name, the Toronto-born artist, who had started performing on YouTube, established himself as one of the big names in music of the 2010s and 2020s, between pop and dark R&B. In the midst of a pandemic in 2020, his fourth album, After Hourshad been a worldwide success, the tube blinding lights becoming the most listened to on Spotify in 2020.
On display with Lily-Rose Depp
After several appearances in the cinema, Abel Tesfaye will occupy one of the leading roles, alongside Lily-Rose Depp, in a highly anticipated series from HBO, The Idol premiering at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, which opens Tuesday May 16.
The series, produced and written by the singer, with Sam Levinson (Euphoria), tells the story of a pop diva who crosses paths with a cult guru after a nervous breakdown.