The Weeknd Says He’s Planning To Ditch His Stage Name: ‘I’m Getting Ready To Close The Weeknd Chapter’
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Goodbye Weeknd, hello Abel.
This week, W Magazine debuted its annual ‘The Pop Issue”, with “The Idol” stars The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp on the cover.
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In the issue, The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, talks about his plans to ditch his stage name in the near future.
“I’m going through a cathartic path right now. It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter,” he says.
“I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd,” Tesfaye continues. “And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.
Talking about when the death of “The Weeknd” might finally happen, the artist says, “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.”
On his quest for perfection and the choice to re-shoot much of “The Idol”, The Weeknd says, “Film and TV is a new creative muscle for me. I don’t release my music until I think it is great. Why would this be any different…I realized that I need to know that I’ve made the best version of whatever I’m making.”
He adds, “It was a challenge to redo ‘The Idol’, and, in truth, I sacrificed my health and home to make it work. So, let’s say it comes out and it’s fucking horrible. I still know I did my absolute best. From what I’ve seen, the show is great. Everything is a risk: When you’ve done the best you can, I would call that a happy ending.”
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Also in the article, Depp opens up about the audition process for “The Idol”, in which she plays a controversial pop superstar.
“I never thought I would get the part. I knew there would be many lovely ladies who are more musical than me, but I thought,I’ll give it a go. I wanted to wear pop-star colours, and I wanted to channel a certain L.A. feeling. I grew up in L.A., and I’m an L.A. girl, and so is Jocelyn. I wanted to capture the style mix of mischief and shine,” she says.
One aspect of her character that she really did make her own was Jocelyn’s style, changing her look from what was written in the script.
“As a blonde, Jocelyn could be good; she could be evil. You never know,” Depp says. “I grew up watching older films, especially French films. Women like Brigitte Bardot have beauty mixed with an ‘I don’t give a fuck’ energy. I wanted that feeling for Jocelyn.”
