Yahoo News The Weeknd Says Next Album May Mark 'Last Hurrah' as The Weeknd: 'Said Everything I Can Say'
Abel Tesfaye has been using his Weeknd moniker since his House of Balloons days, but now says that may change
The Weeknd may eventually be no more.
In a new cover story for W Magazine to promote his upcoming HBO drama The Idol with Lily-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."
Related:Ariana Grande Comes Out of Musical Hiatus to Release 'Die for You' Remix with The Weeknd
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 his House of Balloons days in the early 2010s. But balancing the stage persona with his character on the new show came with challenges, he told W.
"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 an Ariana Grande remix of his 2016 Starboy hit "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," Positions duet "Off the Table" in 2020 and their 2021 "Save Your Tears" remix.
He also may be headed to the big screen soon enough, as Variety reported 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 star Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega and Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan.
According to Deadline, the film will be directed by Trey Edwards Shults, who directed 2017's It Comes at Night and 2019's Waves.
His HBO series, however, will feature names like Dan Levy, Eli Roth, Rachel Sennott and Hank Azaria and was created by Euphoria's Sam Levinson. It follows a rising pop star (Depp) who falls into a relationship with a self-help guru and nightclub owner (The Weeknd).
"I realized that I need to know that I've made the best version of whatever I'm making. It was a challenge to redo The 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 told W. "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."
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