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The Weeknd (real name: Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) was born on February 16, 1990. The singer is set to retire the moniker in the upcoming year or so after 17 years of using the moniker, having first used the name back when he was 17. The singer explained the origin of the name to his fans in a Reddit Q&A session a while back in 2013, here quoted via The List's website article on the matter, which was updated on August 30, 2023:
"I left home when I was about 17 dropped out of high school and convinced Lamar to do the same lol. We grabbed our mattresses from our parents threw it in our friends s****y van and left one weekend and never came back home."
The singer continued:
It was gonna be the title of HOB [House of Balloons]" — this is what he called his first mixtape. I hated my name at the time though so I tried it as a stage name. It sounded cool. I took out the 'e' because there was already a Canadian band named Weekend."
The Weeknd recently announced a new album, tour, and a movie in late 2024. The new album is called Hurry Up Tomorrow. It will be the singer's sixth studio album and his first since 2022's Dawn FM. It has not been confirmed by the singer whether the upcoming album will be his last or not.
The Weeknd talks about retirement in the new Variety interview
The Weeknd talked about what promted his urge to retire the moniker in an exclusive interview with Variety that was published on January 10, 2025, talking about how the impetus started in the SoFI Stadium in 2022:
"I saw my doctor the next day. There’s nothing wrong with you — your [vocal cords] are inflamed, but nothing out of the ordinary. And that’s when we came to the realization that it was all up here. I just think it was the last straw, man. There was a lot of self-imposed pressure: flying to L.A. between concerts, getting into character."
The singer continued:
"But what led up to it? Maybe it was that year, but maybe it was my whole life: survival, school, family, friendships, relationships, making it in the music industry. I’d always kind of suppressed it. You know, delusion helps!"
The Weekned's upcoming album and tour comes after his After Hours tour was wrapped up in late 2024 with a Australian tour. The tour was in support of the album, Dawn FM.
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Hurry Up Tomorrow is the singer's next step in surpassing himself, with the singer having talked about the album's creative process in an exclusive interview with Billboard magazine. The singer stated in that interview that his creative process involved looking for the next big thing that he could do musically.
The Weeknd expanded out of music in 2023 with the show, The Idol, which starred himself along with Lily Rose Depp, Suzanna Son, Troye Sivan, and Jane Adams. The show was created by Sam Levinson and Abel Tesfaye, and featured production by Joe Epstein, Ashley Levinson, Kevin Turen, and more. The show was not received well critically and was canceled after the first season. The Weeknd has previously also starred on projects such as Uncut Gems, and Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall, among others.
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