The Weeknd?

When the Weeknd—aka Abel Tesfaye—first arrived, he shrouded himself in mystery. He rarely showed his face and never spoke outside the music that peppered his trilogy of 2011 mixtapes, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. That changed, however, when Drake’s co-sign led to his major-label debut, Kiss Land, in 2013. His follow-up, Beauty Behind the Madness, made him a star with singles like “Earned It,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” and “The Hills.” His third album, Starboy, with its title track appearance from Daft Punk, cemented his status as one of the most visible pop stars in the world.

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (Amharic: አበል መኮነን ተስፋዬ; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is noted for his unconventional music production, artistic reinventions, and his signature use of the falsetto register.

Born and raised in Toronto, Tesfaye began his career in 2009 by anonymously releasing music on YouTube. Two years later, he co-founded the record label XO and released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, which gained recognition for his style of contemporary and alternative R&B as well as the mystique surrounding his identity.^[6] In 2012, he signed with Republic Records and re-issued the mixtapes for his compilation album Trilogy. He explored dark wave for his debut studio album Kiss Land (2013), which debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200. After its release, Tesfaye began contributing to film soundtracks; his acclaimed 2014 single “Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

Tesfaye earned critical and commercial success with his pop-leaning second album Beauty Behind the Madness (2015), which reached number one in the US, contained the US Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills,” and won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album in addition to a nomination for Album of the Year. His trap-infused third album Starboy (2016) saw similar commercial success and included the US number-one lead single of the same name (featuring Daft Punk) and “Die for You,” and won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Tesfaye would return to alternative R&B with his debut extended play, My Dear Melancholy (2018), which contained the US top-ten single “Call Out My Name.”^[9] He explored new wave and dream pop with his fourth studio album After Hours (2020), which featured the chart record-setting single “Blinding Lights” and the US number-one singles: “Heartless” and “Save Your Tears.” Dance-pop inspired his fifth album Dawn FM (2022), which included the US top-ten single “Take My Breath.” In 2023, he co-created and starred in the drama series The Idol, which was critically panned, although its accompanying soundtrack found modest commercial success.

Among the world’s best-selling music artists with over 75 million records sold, Tesfaye holds several streaming and Billboard chart records. He is the first Canadian artist to earn four diamond-certified singles from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as the first artist to simultaneously hold the top three spots on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. “Blinding Lights” became the most-streamed song in Spotify history and the best-performing song in the Billboard Hot 100’s history, as well as the longest charting song by a solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100. Tesfaye was listed by Time as one of the world’s most influential people in 2020, and was dubbed the “world’s most popular artist” by Guinness World Records in 2023. An advocate for racial equality and food security, he was appointed a World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador in 2021. His accolades include four Grammy Awards, 20 Billboard Music Awards, 22 Juno Awards, six American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and a Latin Grammy Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Early life

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye^[a] was born on February 16, 1990, in Toronto, Ontario. He is the only child of Ethiopian Amhara immigrants Makkonen Tesfaye and Samrawit Hailu, who separated shortly after his birth. He was raised in the district of Scarborough by his mother and grandmother. He has an estranged relationship with his father, telling Rolling Stone in 2015 that “I saw him vaguely when I was six, and then again when I was 11 or 12, and he had a new family and kids. I don’t even know where he lived — I’d see him for, like, a night. I’m sure he’s a great guy. I never judged him. He wasn’t abusive, he wasn’t an alcoholic, he wasn’t an asshole. He just wasn’t there.”

Tesfaye was raised as an Ethiopian Orthodox. When asked whether or not he was still religious, he stated to Variety in 2020, “I dunno…everything is a test, and if you are religious or spiritual, you have to go through things.” His native language is Amharic, which he learned through his grandmother. He later became fluent in French by attending a French-immersion school. He was further educated at West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute.

When he was 17, Tesfaye dropped out of school and moved to an apartment in the neighbourhood of Parkdale with two friends; including his best friend and now creative director La Mar Taylor. He has described this period as being like the 1995 film Kids “without the AIDS”, as they lived a hedonistic lifestyle. He has also experienced homelessness and was incarcerated on several occasions during this time, which encouraged him to “smarten up, to focus.”

Tesfaye often used drugs and abused illegal substances such as ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, magic mushrooms, and cough syrup. In December 2016, he stated that drugs were a “crutch” for him when it came to writing music. In August 2021, during a cover story with GQ, he described himself as being “sober lite”, meaning that he has stopped using drugs with the exception of marijuana. He also noted that he drinks alcohol occasionally, stating: “I’m not a heavy drinker, as much as I used to be. The romance of drinking isn’t there.”

Career

2009–2011: Early beginnings

In August 2009, Tesfaye began anonymously releasing music on YouTube. The following year, he met Jeremy Rose, a producer who had an idea for a dark contemporary R&B project. After initially trying to pitch the idea to musician Curtis Santiago, Rose played one of his instrumentals for Tesfaye, who freestyle rapped over it. Rose produced three songs – “What You Need”, “Loft Music” and “The Party & The After Party” – and others that Tesfaye had sung on, which were ultimately scrapped. Rose let Tesfaye keep the tracks he had produced under the condition that he would be credited for them. In December 2010, Tesfaye uploaded “What You Need”, “Loft Music” and “The Morning” to YouTube under the username “xoxxxoooxo”. His identity was initially unknown. The songs drew some attention online, and were later included in a blog post from rapper Drake. The songs subsequently received coverage from various media outlets, including Pitchfork and The New York Times.

Before adopting the stage name the Weeknd, Tesfaye released music under the aliases the Noise and Kin Kane, with music from “the Noise” being leaked in May 2011.^[25][46] His current stage name was chosen in tribute to when he dropped out of school, took his mattress, “left one weekend and never came home.” However, Rose claims the name was his idea. The last ‘e’ was excluded to avoid trademark problems with pop rock band the Weekend.^[48] In the beginning of his career, Tesfaye worked at American Apparel. Due to his anonymity, his co-workers listened to his music without knowing it was him.

In 2011, Tesfaye met music executives Wassim “Sal” Slaiby and Amir “Cash” Esmailian, with whom, along with Taylor, he founded the XO record label. On March 21, Tesfaye released his debut mixtape House of Balloons. The mixtape included production from producers Illangelo and Doc McKinney, and included the tracks produced by Rose, although he did not receive production credits. House of Balloons was named as one of ten shortlisted nominees for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize. On August 18, Tesfaye released his second mixtape Thursday, which received generally positive reviews. His third mixtape, Echoes of Silence, was released on December 21. It was a longlisted nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize.

In July 2011, Tesfaye held his first live performance at the Mod Club Theatre in Toronto. After the performance, Drake met with Tesfaye to discuss collaborations, which led to Tesfaye earning an appearance at his OVO Festival. He also participated in concerts hosted by the Black Student Association at the University of Toronto.Tesfaye contributed to four songs on Drake’s second studio album Take Care, which was released on November 15, as a songwriter, producer and a featured artist on the album’s seventh single “Crew Love”.

2012–2014: Trilogy and Kiss Land

Between January and March 2012, Tesfaye performed at several Ontario universities, including Waterloo’s Laurier University, Hamilton’s Mohawk College and McMaster University. In April, he began his first international tour; which included performances at Coachella, sold-out shows at such venues as the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, which were positively reviewed by Rolling Stone,and various European festivals, including Primavera Sound in Spain and Portugal, and the Wireless Festival in the United Kingdom. In September, Tesfaye signed with Republic Records and XO was assumed as a subsidiary label. That same month, he began his first official concert tour: The Fall Tour, during which he opened for Florence and the Machine on their Ceremonials Tour in 5 cities, which included 2 shows at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

On November 13, 2012, Tesfaye released Trilogy, a compilation album consisting of re-mixed and remastered versions of his 2011 mixtapes and three additional tracks. The album officially credited Rose as a producer and writer on the three songs from House of Balloons for which he did not initially receive credit.^[74] Trilogy debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 86,000 copies. It also debuted at number five on the Canadian Albums Chart, with similar sales. The album was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and double-platinum by Music Canada. It also earned Tesfaye a nomination for the Sound of 2013 poll award

On May 17, 2013, Tesfaye released the title track to his debut studio album Kiss Land, and announced the album’s release date of September 10.^[81] Upon release, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 96,000 copies, and received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album was later supported by the singles “Belong to the World”, “Love in the Sky” and “Live For” featuring Drake. Tesfaye embarked on a fall tour from September 6 to November 26. As of August 2015, the album had sold 273,000 copies in the United States.

In November 2013, Tesfaye opened for Justin Timberlake on The 20/20 Experience World Tour. He then contributed to the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), on the songs “Devil May Cry” and “Elastic Heart” with Sia and Diplo, the latter serving as the second single from the soundtrack.

In February 2014, Tesfaye remixed Beyoncé’s single “Drunk in Love” from her eponymous studio album. Retaining the theme and concept of the song, he detailed the synopsis through a male’s perspective. On August 25, Tesfaye collaborated with Ariana Grande on the song “Love Me Harder” from Grande’s second studio album My Everything. The song was then released on September 30 as the fourth single from the album, and peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100.

He announced the King of the Fall Tour in June 2014, a 4-city tour of North America between September and October and was supported by Schoolboy Q and Jhené Aiko.In promotion of the tour, he released the songs “King of the Fall” and “Often” in July of that year. On December 23, Tesfaye released the song “Earned It” from the soundtrack for Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). The single, which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, earned Tesfaye his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.^[91] The song won Best R&B Performance and was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

2015–2017: Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy

On May 27, 2015, Tesfaye released the second single from Beauty Behind the Madness, “The Hills”. The single debuted at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at number one, becoming Tesfaye’s second number-one single, following “Can’t Feel My Face”, which had reached the number one position before it. In June 2019, “The Hills” was certified diamond by the RIAA, marking Tesfaye’s first diamond-certified record.

In June 2015, after winning the Centric Award at the BET Awards, Tesfaye performed “Earned It” with Alicia Keys.On June 8, he released the song “Can’t Feel My Face” as the album’s third single. The track was previously leaked in May, but was released as a single following a performance by Tesfaye at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. The single debuted at number twenty-four on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at number one, making it Tesfaye’s third top 10 hit and his first number-one song in the United States. The song was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. He occupied all three slots on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart simultaneously with the aforementioned singles, becoming the first artist in history to accomplish this. He was also unveiled as one of the musical faces of the streaming service Apple Music, alongside Drake. During the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Apple debuted a two-part promotional commercial featuring Tesfaye, which had a guest appearance from John Travolta. In July, Tesfaye headlined the inaugural FVDED in the Park festival in Surrey, British Columbia.^[104] On June 29, Tesfaye was featured on Meek Mill’s second studio album Dreams Worth More Than Money (2015), on the track “Pullin’ Up”.

Beauty Behind the Madness, Tesfaye’s second studio album, was released on August 28, 2015, and debuted atop the Billboard 200, earning 412,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. It reached the top 10 in over ten countries and reached number one in Canada, Australia, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The album was promoted by Tesfaye headlining various summer music festivals, including Lollapalooza, the Hard Summer Music Festival, and the Bumbershoot Festival. He announced The Madness Fall Tour, his first large-scale tour across the United States, which began in November, and concluded in December. The album was certified double platinum in the U.S., and sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. It was the most-streamed album in 2015, with over 60 million streams, and was ranked on multiple lists of albums of the year. The three singles that preceded the album were certified platinum in the United States. The album won Best Urban Contemporary Album and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

On September 4, 2015, Tesfaye was featured on Travis Scott’s debut album Rodeo, on the track “Pray 4 Love”. On October 10, Tesfaye appeared on Saturday Night Live alongside actress Amy Schumer, performing as the show’s musical guest. This was his first performance on the show as a solo artist, after appearing with Ariana Grande to perform “Love Me Harder”. In November, he began his debut arena tour, The Madness Fall Tour, which included shows at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre and New York City’s Madison Square Garden. On December 18, Tesfaye was featured on Belly’s single “Might Not” from his eighth mixtape Up For Days.

On February 14, 2016, Tesfaye was featured on Kanye West’s seventh studio album The Life of Pablo on the track “FML”. It marked their second collaboration, with West previously writing and producing on Tesfaye’s track “Tell Your Friends” from Beauty Behind the Madness. On March 1, Tesfaye was featured on Future’s single “Low Life” from his fourth studio album Evol. On April 23, he was featured on Beyoncé’s sixth studio album Lemonade on the track “6 Inch”.^[125] On August 26, Tesfaye was featured on Cashmere Cat’s single “Wild Love” with Francis and the Lights, which served as the lead single from Cashmere Cat’s debut studio album 9 (2017).

In September 2016, Tesfaye announced that his third studio album, Starboy, would be released on November 25, and included collaborations with now-disbanded French electronic music duo Daft Punk.He released the album’s title track, which featured the duo on September 21. The song debuted at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at number one, making it Tesfaye’s third number-one single. As of March 2023, the song is certified Diamond by the RIAA. Their second collaboration, “I Feel It Coming” was released on November 24. The single peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 1, Tesfaye made a second appearance on Saturday Night Live as the musical guest alongside actress Margot Robbie. During the show, he performed “Starboy” and “False Alarm”.On November 23, he released the short film M A N I A. Directed by Grant Singer, it featured excerpts from the album, including snippets from “All I Know” featuring Future, “Sidewalks” featuring Kendrick Lamar, “Secrets” and “Die for You”. Upon release, the album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with 348,000 units, making it Tesfaye’s second consecutive number-one album. As of January 2019, the album is certified triple platinum by the RIAA. The album won Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, making it Tesfaye’s second win in the category.

On February 17, 2017, the Weeknd began his fifth concert tour, called Starboy: Legend of the Fall Tour. The tour was in support of his third studio album Starboy (2016) and concluded on December 14, 2017. He visited the continents Europa, North- and South America and Oceania. On February 15, 2017, Tesfaye was featured on Nav’s commercial debut single “Some Way”, which also served as the lead single from his self-titled mixtape. On February 24, he appeared on Future’s sixth studio album Hndrxx, on the song “Comin Out Strong”. On April 19, Tesfaye appeared on the title track and second single from Lana Del Rey’s fifth studio album. On August 15, he was featured on French Montana’s track “A Lie”, the third single from his second studio album Jungle Rules. He then appeared on the Virgil Abloh-directed music video for Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO Tour Llif3” alongside Nav. He was later featured on Lil Uzi Vert’s debut album Luv Is Rage 2 on the track “UnFazed” and on Gucci Mane’s eleventh studio album Mr. Davis on the track “Curve”.