The Weeknd.Photo: Tyler Mitchell
The Weekndmay eventually be no more.
In anew cover story forW Magazineto promote his upcoming HBO dramaThe IdolwithLily-Rose Depp, Abel Tesfaye revealed that his next album could be his final release under the long-running moniker.
“The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd,” Tesfaye, 33, shared. “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”
As Tesfaye explained in his latest interview, he’s on a “cathartic path right now.”
“It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter,” he added. “I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”
While he’s now branching out into his “new creative muscle” of film and television work, The Weeknd has been releasing music under his stage name since hisHouse of Balloonsdays in the early 2010s. But balancing the stage persona with his character on the new show came with challenges, he toldW.
The Weeknd.Tyler Mitchell
“I had to take off the Weeknd outfit, put on Tedros’s wig, shoot with [Depp’s character] Jocelyn, then go back to being The Weeknd…Then, after the concert, I lost my voice. No voice came out at all. That’s never happened before.”
“My theory is that I forgot how to sing because I was playing Tedros, a character who doesn’t know how to sing,” he continued. “I may be looking too deeply into this, but it was terrifying. As The Weeknd, I’ve never skipped a concert. I’ve performed with the flu. I’ll die on that stage. But there was something very complicated going on with my mind at that moment.”
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On the music end of things, The Weeknd is fresh off of yet another No. 1 single after releasing anAriana Granderemix of his2016Starboyhit “Die for You"in February.
The team-up marked the fourth time that the musical duo has collaborated together, following Grande’s 2014 smash “Love Me Harder,“Positionsduet “Off the Table” in 2020 and their 2021 “Save Your Tears” remix.
He also may be headed to the big screen soon enough, asVarietyreported in March that the music star is set to star in his first lead movie role in a feature film he also wrote — which is currently untitled and will also starWednesdayactressJenna OrtegaandOscar nomineeBarry Keoghan.
“I realized that I need to know that I’ve made the best version of whatever I’m making. It was a challenge to redoThe Idol,and, in truth, I sacrificed my health and home to make it work. So, let’s say it comes out and it’s f—ing horrible,” The Weeknd toldW. “I still know I did my absolute best. From what I’ve seen, the show is great. Everything is a risk: When you’ve done the best you can, I would call that a happy ending.”
source: people.com
