Abel Tesfaye To No Longer Make Music As The Weeknd

Abel Tesfaye has been making music as The Weeknd since his 2011 mixtape, House Of Balloons. From there, he released two more EPs, Thursday and Echoes Of Silence, all of which would make up the Trilogy compilation album.

In 2013, he released his debut album, Kiss Land, before his 2015 follow-up, Beauty Behind The Madness, catapulted Tesfaye to global stardom led by the hits Can’t Feel My Face and The Hills.

The next Weeknd album, Starboy, released in 2016, saw Tesfaye collaborate with Daft Punk and won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Fans had to wait a bit longer for Tesfaye’s fourth album, 2020’s After Hours, which was spearheaded by the inescapable Blinding Lights and Save Your Tears.

The Weeknd returned last year with Dawn FM. To promote the album, the singles Take My Breath, Sacrifice, Out Of Time and Less Than Zero were pushed to radio.

Since then, Tesfaye has made headlines for a reason other than music: his leading role in the upcoming controversial HBO series, The Idol, which he co-created alongside collaborator Reza Fahim and Euphoria’s Sam Levinson.

The official synopsis reads: “After a nervous breakdown derailed Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) last tour, she’s determined to claim her rightful status as the greatest and sexiest pop star in America. 

"Her passions are reignited by Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye), a nightclub impresario with a sordid past. Will her romantic awakening take her to glorious new heights or the deepest and darkest depths of her soul?”

Promoting the new series, Tesfaye and Depp were interviewed by W Magazine, where the False Alarm singer dropped a bombshell relating to his music.

“The visuals are vital to my career,” he told the publication before admitting, “The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd. This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.” You can read the full interview here.