Addis Ababa, May 15, 2023 (FBC) – The popular Ethio-Canadian artist, The Weeknd, is now officially known online by his real name – Abel Makkonen Tesfaye – after following through on plans to update his social media accounts.
On Monday, the four-time-Grammy-Award-winner’s Twitter and Instagram accounts had updated to display his birth name rather than his artistic name.
And the change is part of a wider plan to “kill The Weeknd,” Tesfaye told W Magazine in an interview published May 8.
“I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he said.
“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. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”
And Tesfaye revealed that his upcoming album might well be The Weeknd’s swansong.
“The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd,” he told W Magazine.
“This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”
In March, Guinness World Records (GWR) announced that the singer-songwriter is statistically the most popular musician on the planet.
The 33-year-old took two new Guinness World Record titles. 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.
A surge in listens was fueled in part by the fact that a remix of “Die for You,” featuring Ariana Grande, went viral on TikTok, according to GWR.
The track went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 – The Weeknd’s seventh time at the top spot. The original “Die for You” was released in 2016 on his album “Starboy.”
In collaboration with Blue Bottle, Abel also recently reconnected with his Ethiopian roots as he unveiled Samra Origins—a brand and a product line. It is named after his mother’s name, Samra, and “pays homage to his family’s heritage with a shared respect for Ethiopia and its coffee traditions”.
“Ethiopian culture is an important part of my identity and I’m proud to work alongside the Blue Bottle Coffee team to shine a light on Ethiopian traditions, values and of course coffee,” The Weeknd said in a press release. “Growing up, I watched my mother perform Buna Tetu, a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. This sensory experience helped shape my understanding of community and taught me to always honor my roots.”