The Weeknd plans to retire stage name: I’m trying to be reborn

Los Angeles, May 9 (PTI) Canadian singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye, better known by his alter ego The Weeknd, said he is planning to “kill” his stage name.

“I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually,” the “Blinding Lights” hitmaker told W Magazine in an interview.
“It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter… I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn,” he added.

Tesfaye, who will next be seen playing a cult leader named Tedros in the HBO series “The Idol”, said the overlap between music and acting forced him to cancel a second concert at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium after losing his voice.

“It was tough to go from one head to another. 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.

“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,” he added.

Tesfaye is set to make his acting debut with “The Idol”, a show he co-created with Sam Levinson of “Euphoria” fame. The series will premiere in June.

Also starring Lily-Rose Depp and Jennie of K-pop group BLACKPINK, the story follows a female pop singer who starts a romance with an enigmatic LA club owner who is the leader of a secret cult.