The Weeknd wants to “kill off” alias after next album

The Weeknd reportedly wants to “kill off” his The Weeknd alias after concluding his next and last album.

The Weeknd (real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) has stated that he no longer wants to identify as “The Weeknd” after the release of his next album and would like to start fresh.  The Weeknd has been a concept for the past 12 years.

Ahead of the first episode of the controversial HBO series produced and starred by Tesfaye, entitled ‘The Idol’, Tesfaye and co-star Lily-Rose Depp spoke to W Magazine about their on-screen and off-screen personas.  Tesfaye explained that he experienced “kind of a breakdown” when switching between his character Tedros and his The Weeknd persona while filming the show.  “I had to take off the Weeknd outfit, put on Tedros’s wig, shoot with Jocelyn, then go back to being The Weeknd,” he told W Magazine. “It was tough to go from one head to another.”

He went on to say that he’s following a new path since the wrap of The Idol and that he is “getting ready to close The Weeknd” chapter.

“I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd,” he said. “But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.” He continued, “The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd,” he told W. “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”

His next album is reportedly still in the works with no set release date as of yet.

Image Credit: Brian Ziff | License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)