The Weekend is no more, he is now Abel Tesfaye. What does it mean for his music?

Canadian singer The Weeknd is now officially Abel Tesfaye. The singer changed his display name from his stage name, The Weeknd, which he has been known for since his debut, to his birth name Abel Tesfaye recently. Tesfaye has been hinting at shedding his persona as The Weeknd for some time. 

So far, Abel Tesfaye has not addressed the change publicly, but he's been speaking about it for a while. 

What does this mean? 

• The Blinding Lights singer had created his persona as The Weeknd for his fans when he began his career over 10 years ago. He came up with the name when he dropped out of school "leaving one weekend and never coming home".

• Since then, The Weeknd has produced music of the dark and explicit kind of R&B singing about alienation, casual sex and drug abuse. He's created himself the image of a self-loathing f*ckboi. 
• Leaving his stage name behind means a few things as the artist has explained previously. Speaking to W Magazine earlier this month about his much-anticipated HBO series The Idol, Tesfaye said that he still wants to "kill The Weeknd". 

• He told W Magazine that he's said everything he wanted to say as The Weeknd and that he was working on his final album as The Weeknd. 
• Tesfaye has also hinted at completing the trilogy of albums that includes 2020's After Hours and 2022's Dawn FM. 
• On Twitter, his fans had mixed reactions, with some expressing sadness for the end of an era, while others comparing the metamorphosis to Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana.  

What the singer brings to fans as Abel Tesfaye and how his music changes need to be seen. However, the Starboy singer has earlier spoken about facing an identity crisis while shooting for HBO's The Idol.

Tesfaye said that he "forgot" how to sing as he juggled two characters in one night. The artist was shooting a scene as Tedros for The Idol and soon after went to perform as The Weeknd but had to cut short the concert after losing his voice mid-way. Tesfaye said it was likely because his character as Tedros doesn't know how to sing. 

The Weeknd has not been afraid to change his style and persona from time to time. His first big change came when he got rid of signature dreads that were also built into his persona. The changes to his persona and his music have not stopped him from being declared the most popular artist of our time globally in March 2023 by the Guinness World Records. GWR said that based on Spotify listeners The Weeknd or Abel Tesfaye is statistically the most popular artist in the world and that "no one else even comes close".