The Weeknd changes name on social media after vowing to “kill” his alter-ego

The Weeknd has changed his name across social media, following comments that he wanted to “kill” his alter-ego.

The Canadian pop star rolled out the new title on his social media platforms yesterday (May 15), and now goes by his birth name Abel Tesfaye, instead of The Weeknd.

He first posed the idea to his fans and followers on Twitter last month (April 3), when he shared an update reading: “ABEL formally known as The Weeknd?”. Currently, the tweet has over 124,000 likes and a substantial amount of replies, with fans sharing their thoughts on the change of name.

The R&B singer also announced his intentions to switch names earlier this month, when he admitted that he wanted to “close The Weekend chapter”, and continue his creative endeavours under the new title.

​​”I’m going through a cathartic path right now… It’s getting to a place and time where I’m getting ready to close The Weeknd chapter,” he told W Magazine. “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.”

Born in Toronto to Ethiopian immigrants, Tesfaye first rose to fame after he uploaded his first songs to YouTube in 2010. In 2011, he emerged with his acclaimed mixtapes ‘House Of Balloons’, ‘Thursday’ and ‘Echoes Of Silence’. These would go on to be collected as the now iconic ‘Trilogy’ set. Since then he has released five albums, with the last being 2022’s ‘Dawn FM‘.

One of his biggest songs came in the form of ‘Blinding Lights’ — the hit single released as part of his 2020 album, ‘After Hours’. He has also appeared on both the big and small screen, appearing in Uncut Gems, American Dad, The Simpsons and more.

During his time as The Weeknd, the singer has won four Grammys and, as of March, was declared the most popular artist in the world after reaching 100million monthly listeners on Spotify.

In January, he teased that he was working on new music — less than a year after ‘Dawn FM’. It has not yet been confirmed if the upcoming music will be released under his birth name or his famous moniker.

More recently, however, Tesfaye announced that he would be acting alongside Lily-Rose Depp in the long-awaited HBO series, The Idol. Set for release next month, it was revealed that the idea for the show came from a pitch made by the singer, who told the director that he could “start a cult” if he wanted to.