Is The Weeknd retiring his stage name? Inside ‘mental breakdown’ that sparked decision-Lillie Rohan-Entertainment – Metro

Hurry Up Tomorrow closes a chapter for The Weeknd (Picture: Wagner Meier/Getty Images for Live Nation)

It might be the end of an era for The Weeknd.

The four-time Grammy winner has just released his highly anticipated sixth album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, an album he has been very clear in stating is the final chapter in The Weeknd’s discography.

Originally scheduled to be released last Friday, 24 January, the Starboy singer pushed back the release date due to the LA wildfires and has now opened up about why he’s decided to move away from his original stage name to begin performing under his birth name, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye.

It’s not a spontaneous decision for the star. It’s something he has been considering for a while, since 2022, to be exact, when he was caught up in a devastating on-stage moment.

That September, the Canadian was scheduled to perform a show to over 70,000 people. Everything was going smoothly until he got on stage only to realise he couldn’t sing.

He had lost his vocals.

The award winner is topping charts once more, but it may be his last time under this stage name (Picture: AP)

A ‘mental breakdown’ has resulted in the major change (Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Live Nation)

It was a catalyst for his ‘mental breakdown’ and resulted in the change in direction of his career, with the release of his new album officially marking the end of an era for the musician.

Here, we look back at The Weeknd’s most memorable moments, from his Starboy era to becoming the most streamed artist in the world.

The Weeknd’s Starboy era – and cutting off hair

Tesfaye first entered the music scene in 2009, but you wouldn’t have known it as he was posting anonymously on YouTube under a different name. Undeniably talented with a shadowy persona and vulnerable take on music, producer Jeremy Rose soon managed to get in touch and by 2011, the unique musician was well on his way to stardom.

Choosing the stage name The Weeknd when he was just 17 years old, he has previously revealed he liked it because it sounded ‘cool’ and dropped the ‘e’ so as not to run into copyright issues with Canadian band the Weekend.

Along with his talent, it did turn out to be cool and helped him collaborate with Drake and open for Florence and the Machine during some of their North American shows. But his career really took off in 2014 when he contributed to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, collaborated with Ariana Grande and released the hit song, Earned It, for the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.

Earning an Academy Award nomination for the top-charting track and winning multiple Grammy Awards, Tesfaye had officially become a star, so it made sense that in 2016, he released his third studio album, Starboy.

The album was supported by eight singles, including the record’s namesake track, Die For You and I Feel It Coming, but what perhaps makes it one of his most memorable is that it marked a new era – one without his then-signature dreadlocks.

Up until 2016, dreadlocks were part of his signature look (Picture: Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

Much like his dark aesthetic, they were a part of his brand (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe ahead of the album’s release, he addressed the reasons for changing his look, admitting: ‘The vision just wasn’t there.’

He explained that he had been thinking about it for a while: ‘It just wasn’t there; the vision wasn’t there anymore. the music was getting really sad.’

As for how he felt when he cut it off: ‘It was the greatest feeling of all time.’

He added: ‘I could sleep better, I felt lighter, when I perform, I perform better, I feel better, it’s cool. You don’t even realise how much a pain in the a** it was until you cut it but the best part about all of it is that I get to wear f**king hats again.’ 

How The Weeknd became a global superstar during the pandemic

Following Starboy, Tesfaye’s status continued to rise as he collaborated with huge industry names, including Lana Del Rey, French Montana, Kenrick Lamar, and Travis Scott. He also released his debut extended play My Dear Melancholy, which not only became his third consecutive Billboard 200 number one, but also the shortest album by track count, to earn a top spot in almost a decade.

It’s safe to say that he was in a good position when 2020 came and, with it, the Covid pandemic.

In February 2020, when Covid was simply a buzzword, Tesfaye announced that his fourth studio album, After Hours, would be released the following month. With good timing and some luck on his side, just days before lockdowns began, he performed two singles from the record on Saturday Night Live.

By 2020, the Earned It singer was a household name (Picture: Steve Granitz/WireImage)

It created a huge amount of anticipation, and with many people spending more time online as they were confined to their homes, the album debuted at number one on Billboard 200, becoming his fourth to do so, and became the most streamed R&B album of all time with over two billion streams.

Appearing as the most successful song on the album, Blinding Lights broke Billboard 100 chart records spending a consecutive 43 weeks in the top five and 57 weeks in the top 10.

And his career-defining year didn’t stop there.

He collaborated with multiple artists, from Calvin Harris to Grande, and on the Juice Wrld’s posthumous album. He won favourite male artist at the American Music Awards and was named one of TIME Magazine’s most influential people.

Then by 2021, at the height of the pandemic, he reached a major milestone in his career that only music greats have achieved, headlining the Super Bowl LV Pepsi Halftime Show.

He became the first Canadian solo artist to do so.

The pandemic was a defining era for the musician, earning him unprecedented fame (Picture: Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage)

The 12-minute performance was watched by 96.7million people and cost over $7million (£5.64million) to create, with Tesfaye paying for it out of his own pocket.

Despite his success, a notable moment that year came when he was snubbed by the Grammys. Refusing to let it hold him back, he declared a boycott on future events and went on to break record after record, proving award shows aren’t a direct reflection of success.

In 2022, he headlined Coachella and released his fifth studio album, Dawn FM, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. The same year, he proved just how powerful his status was, embarking on his After Hours Till Dawn stadium tour, with most North America, Europe, and the UK dates selling out within minutes of going on sale.

How TikTok made The Weeknd a viral sensation

While Tesfaye is an undeniable talent, the star’s success throughout the pandemic can partly be attributed to his music becoming a viral sensation on TikTok.

The video-sharing platform, which has over 1.58 billion users worldwide, saw a rapid increase in users throughout the pandemic, with their consumption habits of music and pop culture moments often influencing the popularity of people, places and art.

For Tesfaye, his track Blinding Lights became the inspiration for a trend where millions of users choreographed retro dances to the song. It resulted in the song becoming the platform’s most-used track in 2020 and contributed to its Billboard 100 achievements.

His unpredictable and performative approach to fame has become a sensation with fans (Picture: Emma McIntyre /AMA2020/Getty Images for dcp)

Save Your Tears and Die For You have also seen huge usage on the app, mostly thanks to their catchy backtracks and lyrics.

His fame on the app isn’t just down to music, though; with countless fans, some from younger generations who aren’t as familiar with his career journey, the story of how Tesfaye’s career highlights are a common topic covered in deep dive videos from pop culture experts.

Memes inspired by the star, interview snippets and uncovering information about the notoriously private singer are also to thank for his popularity on the app, as are conversations surrounding his explicit 2023 HBO series, The Idol.

The series starred Lily-Rose Depp and didn’t sit well with fans due to the sexual nature and ‘boring’ storyline, resulting in negative critic reviews and a 19% rating on Rotton Tomatoes.

The Weeknd becomes the most streamed artist in the world

The After Hours Till Dawn tour sold out in minutes and it’s easy to see why (Picture: Mariano Regidor/Redferns)

In March 2023, Guinness World Records officially declared Tesfaye to be the world’s most popular artist in the world.

It was a record based on an analysis of his data, including Spotify, where he’s absolutely dominated with over 117 million monthly listeners, as well as holding the record for the most streamed song on the platform with Blinding Lights.

He also has the most songs to reach over one billion streams on the music streaming site, and while it’s no doubt down to his talent, it’s also thanks to his well-timed collaborations, remixes and ability to cater to multiple different audiences from R&B to pop, by always reinventing his sound.

His impressive title is a reflection of his estimated net worth, which celebrity wealth website Celebrity Net Worth estimates to be over $300 million (£241.7million)

Why is The Weeknd changing his name?

Tesfaye spoke to Variety last month, explaining that losing his ‘secret weapon’, aka his voice, on stage in 2022 made him realise that he needed to reevaluate his life.

‘I knew that I really needed to sit the f*** down and figure out my life,’ he said. ‘To understand what happened, face it, learn something new and start again. I’d had a kind of a mental breakdown, which is pretty much what this new album’s [Hurry Up Tomorrow] about.’

Lily-Rose and the top-charting musician appeared in The Idol together (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)

Tesfaye told the news outlet that the loss of his voice was so devastating as he had performed through breakups, illness, and grief, but that night, despite doing many vocal exercises, he was ‘defeated on the world stage’.

With fans already filling the stadium, he was put in the heartbreaking situation of having to go on stage and explain that everyone had to go home as the show could no longer take place.

In his head, he heard ‘booing and screaming’, ‘hate and anger’, but after rewatching a video, he realised it wasn’t that bad.

The next day, he made a visit to his doctor, who told him: ‘There’s nothing wrong with you—your [vocal cords] are inflamed, but nothing out of the ordinary.’ Tesfaye came to the conclusion that it was all in his head.

Describing it as a ‘pinnacle’ moment in his life, he said he had mostly finished the album at the time of the ‘mental breakdown’ but found himself going back to the drawing board as he continued to work on himself, his internal pain and the sense that ‘this could all be gone’ tomorrow.

While it’s not officially the end of the Timeless singer’s career, it is the end of an era (Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Spotify)

‘It’s almost like my whole life flashed before my eyes. And then I started thinking about family – my mother, my father, the people in my life.’ He continued to say he began believing he had lost his voice because he had done all he needed to do as The Weeknd and was now ‘overstaying’ at the party.

He saw one road where he could end his career and ‘live a happy life’. Adding: ‘Put the bow on it: Hurry Up Tomorrow. Now we’re here. When is the right time to leave, if not at your peak?’

But for now, that bow hasn’t been placed and he is celebrating the release of the album while still toying with the idea of shedding his beloved persona to go in a new artistic direction as Abel Tesfaye.

As nothing has been confirmed yet, fans will just have to wait and see what happens next.

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