The Weeknd plans to shed his longtime stage name, persona
Grammy winner Abel Tesfaye says he's eager to put his musical alter ego The Weeknd behind him as he embarks on his acting debut on the upcoming HBO Max series "The Idol."
When HBO Max dropped its teaser trailer for its upcoming series “The Idol,” it listed one of its stars as Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye in the credits. According to Tesfaye, it’s a sign of change that’s coming.
Tesfaye told W Magazine he is preparing to rid himself of The Weeknd as his pop music alter ego. The Grammy Award winner is one of music’s biggest stars thanks to that moniker, but he revealed that he is just about finished with that chapter of his life and career.
In “The Idol,” Tesfaye plays Tedros, opposite co-star Lily-Rose Depp. As he dug into portraying the character on the show, premiering on June 4, Tesfaye says that he had to “take off the Weeknd outfit” and feels he’ll soon keep it off for good.
“It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter,” he said.
He said he will continue his musical career, be it under his birth name or his stage name, but the death of The Weeknd persona is imminent. “But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”
A revelation about leaving The Weeknd behind him came during a concert at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles last year while he was taping “The Idol.” Tesfaye lost his voice and couldn’t sing, and he felt he knew why.
“My theory is that I forgot how to sing because I was playing Tedros, a character who doesn’t know how to sing,” Tesfaye explained, who said the experience was “terrifying.”
Tesfaye suggested that his forthcoming album, which he is currently recording, might become The Weeknd’s final statement. In January 2022, he posed a question about “a new trilogy” on social media, alluding to his third installment following 2020’s “After Hours” and 2022’s “Dawn FM.”
“The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd,” Tesfaye told W Mag. “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”
Tesfaye has garnered massive success as The Weeknd, releasing tonally and sonically somber, hedonistic, and psychedelic R&B and pop music in the form of hits like “Earned It,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” “Starboy” and “Blinding Lights.”
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