Like a professional boxer who just can’t quit the ring, Abel Tesfaye can’t cut The Weeknd short. The singer revealed over the weekend that he’s reconsidered plans he announced last year to retire his stage persona. “It’s a headspace I’ve gotta get into that I just don’t have any more desire for,” he continues. “You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all. It becomes this rat race: more accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s. It never ends until you end it.”
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Tesfaye has been releasing music as The Weeknd since 2011, but last year when asked by Variety magazine to explain social media teasers for his then-upcoming Hurry Up Tomorrow album that read: “The Weeknd/ The End is Near/ 8 beautiful chapters in this story,” he said he was considering retiring the name after he wrapped up his already-on-the-books commitments.
“It’s a headspace I’ve gotta get into that I just don’t have any more desire for,” he explained at the time. “You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all. It becomes this rat race: more accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s. It never ends until you end it.”
But, over the weekend, during the kick-off of his run of three shows in Stockholm, the singer told. the crowd that he’s had a change of heart. “I’ll never disappear. I love this too much to ever disappear. I tested retirement a little bit, and I don’t like the way it feels. I said, Imma be here forever with you, I’ll never disappear,” he said according to fan video, crooning the last two lines like a song.
To be fair, in the 2025 Variety interview, Tesfaye didn’t say he was retiring from music entirely, just that he was considering mothballing his long-held stage name/persona. The singer who has branched out into acting and producing (The Idol, Uncut Gems), said at the time he didn’t think he could quit music entirely, but that he needed a change.
“I don’t think I can stop doing that,” he said of making music. “But everything needs to feel like a challenge. And for me right now, The Weeknd, whatever that is, it’s been mastered. No one’s gonna do the Weeknd better than me, and I’m not gonna do it better than what it is right now. I think I’ve overcome every challenge as this persona, and that’s why I’m really excited about this film, because I love this challenge. But I just want to know what comes after. I want to know what tomorrow looks like.”
The idea to possibly wind down the enigmatic stage persona came after a rough performance at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium in 2022 where he lost his voice four songs in, which ended the show early. A doctor visit showed nothing out of the ordinary, with the Weeknd suggesting that the issue was mental rather than physical.
“Part of me actually was thinking, ‘You lost your voice because it’s done; you said what you had to say. Don’t overstay at the party — you can end it now and live a happy life’,” he said at the time of the canceled 2022 show. “Put the bow on it: Hurry Up Tomorrow? Now we’re here. When is the right time to leave, if not at your peak? Once you understand who I am too much, then it’s time to pivot.”
The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn tour will continue on Monday night (Aug. 10) in Stockholm with the final show at Strawberry Arena before moving on to a five-night run at Wembley Stadium in London.
