Music
16 May 23

The Weeknd reverts to birth name Abel Tesfaye

Credit: Brian Ziff.

The singer is preparing to reinvent himself, and revealed that the album he is working on "is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd".

Canadian pop star The Weeknd has reverted to his birth name across his social media accounts.

The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, changed his Twitter and Instagram accounts on Monday. His handles currently remain unchanged.

The artist had previously revealed that his household stage name The Weeknd had come about after he dropped out of school and took his mattress, "leaving one weekend and never coming home".

In an interview with W magazine earlier this month, the 'Blinding Lights' and 'Starboy' singer admitted he was preparing to reinvent himself as a musician and wanted to "kill The Weeknd".

"I'm going through a cathartic path right now," Tesfaye told the magazine. "It's getting to a place and a time where I'm getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I'll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. "But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually".

ABEL formally known as The Weeknd ?

— Abel Tesfaye (@theweeknd) April 3, 2022

He said the album he was working on "is probably my last hurrah" under the moniker:" “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”

Earlier this year, Guinness World Records announced that the singer-songwriter is statistically the most popular musician on the planet. They announced that the singer had achieved two record - he had the most monthly listeners on Spotify, with 111.4 million as of March 20, and also became the first artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners.

During his music career, Tesfaye has won four Grammy awards, had more than 45 platinum singles and albums and broken many music records.

While eagerly awaiting The Weeknd's closing album, fans can also look forward to seeing Tesfaye star opposite Lily-Rose Depp in his new HBO show The Idol next month.