The Weeknd has said he is ready to make music under another name.
“The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd,” the Canadian singer told W Magazine. “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”
The 33-year-old, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, said he is on “a cathartic path right now” that is taking him closer to “a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter.”
He explained: “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.”
Elsewhere in the interview, The Weeknd recalled the focus on his unique hairstyle early in his career. “The hair became an obstacle for me! I went from ‘No one knows who I am’ to ‘Nobody has that hair except The Weeknd.’ I was always trying to hide it. When I finally decided to cut it, everybody said, ‘Don’t do it!’ That gave me more reasons to do it. I was so identified with that hair that I had to cut it. I didn’t want to be known for just this or just that.”
The singer is credited as Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye in the new series The Idol, which premieres on June 4 on Crave. He plays Tedros, the leader of a sex-obsessed cult.
The Weeknd played himself on episodes of the animated series American Dad and Robot Chicken and also made a cameo as himself in the 2019 movie Uncut Gems.
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