The Weeknd: Why the singer dropped his stage name

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The Weeknd at the Super Bowl 2021: Finally human

Photo: BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS

In order to make a name for yourself as a pop star, it has been a good idea to choose a stage name in these times influenced by rappers and superheroines. It was not for nothing that Stefani Germanotta became Lady Gaga at some point. Kanye West became Ye at some point. Shawn Carter became Jay-Z at some point and lost the hyphen in between. Sean Combs became Puff Daddy at some point, P. Diddy became Diddy at some point. And the somewhat younger musician Post Malone (real name Austin Post) is said to have spit out his pop star pseudonym on the Internet by a rapper name generator. Practical.

The Canadian singer Abel Tesfaye, now 33 years old and one of the biggest pop stars in the world, became The Weeknd at some point – but now wants to be Abel Tesfaye again. His birth name has recently been written above his Instagram account. "As The Weeknd, I've said everything I can say," he recently told W magazine. He was soon ready to end the Weeknd chapter. "I'm going to keep making music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Sometime. I'm definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn." Beautifully cryptic.

This fits well with the narrative thread that Tesfaye most recently pursued with The Weeknd. He seemed to be at odds with his alter ego before, sometimes showing himself to be drastically aged, sometimes blatantly deformed – almost as if The Weeknd was about to come to an end. Tesfaye will soon be starring in the HBO series »The Idol«, which he co-created and co-produced, so his real name may look better in the credits.

Maybe the whole thing says something about our present. Because Abel Tesfaye is not the only pop star who suddenly shows his human side. Thomas Bangalter, formerly one half of the duo Daft Punk, took off his typical robot helmet for the group and released a solo album under his real name in April. As if he were now human again.

In the mythical figure of the pop star there was often the promise of something incomprehensible, semi-divine, of something that goes beyond the limited humanity. Grace Jones or David Bowie are not just the names of two people who were particularly good at singing. Thanks to their art, they grew into larger-than-life, transgressive beings.

Now that authenticity is no longer just an empty phrase that is difficult to pronounce, when technology is pushing the boundaries of music production, and when artificial intelligence can obviously be used to fabricate deceptively real-sounding The Weeknd songs – the artist may need to focus more on what he actually is in order to remain interesting.

A human being.