Why singer The Weeknd ‘changed’ his name

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Canadian singer Abel Tesfaye returns to using his given name The Weeknd during a Super Bowl concert in Tampa, Florida Getty Images via AFP Canadian pop singer The Weeknd returns to using his given name Abel Tesfaye in his profiles on the social networks. Known for catchy pop songs like “Blinding Lights,” the singer asked his fans on Twitter in April if he should make the switch. “Abel, formerly known as The Weeknd?” he wrote in a post that received more than 100,000 likes. The “name change” came after the artist revealed that he wanted to “kill The Weeknd” to “W Magazine”. “I’m having a cathartic moment right now,” he said. “It’s time to close this chapter.” The artist had previously said his name came up after he dropped out of school, packed up his things and left “on a weekend” never to return home, he told Britain’s Daily Mail. But he later claimed he’d said all he could say as The Weeknd and wanted to wrap up the character’s moment by kind of “doing Ziggy Stardust” – a nod to artist David Bowie’s alter ego in the 1970s. Who is Tesfaye? Born in Toronto to Ethiopian immigrants, Abel Tesfaye rose to fame after releasing his first songs on YouTube in 2010, featuring a dark and explicit strand of R&B that delved into issues such as drug use, casual sex and alienation. Canadian rapper Drake then posted these early demos on his personal blog; allowing Tesfaye to produce a nine-song mixtape, “House of Balloons”, which he released as a free download. Since then, Tesfaye has won four Grammy Awards, had more than 45 platinum singles and albums, and has broken many music records. In March 2023, Guinness World Records declared him the most popular artist in the world due to the number of monthly listeners he had on Spotify. As of March 2023, the 33-year-old singer has 111.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify and is the first artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners on the streaming app. Currently, The Weeknd has nearly 30 million more monthly listeners than runner-up Miley Cyrus (82.4 million), according to Spotify.

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