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Abel Makonnen Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, photographed in Los Angeles in December 2022
(CNN) – weekend He became officially known online by his real name – Abel Makkonen Tesfaye – after going through with plans to update his social media accounts.
On Monday, the Canadian artist’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were updated to display his birth name instead of his stage name.
And the change is part of a broader plan to “kill The Weeknd,” Tesfaye told W Magazine in an interview published May 8.
He said, “I’m on a purgative route now.”
“It’s getting to a place and time where I’m getting ready to close class for the weekend. I’m still going to make music, maybe like Abel, maybe like The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Lately. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn” .
And Tesfaye revealed that his next album could be The Weeknd’s swansong.
“The album I’m working on right now might be my last break as The Weeknd,” he told W magazine.
“This is something I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”
In March, Guinness World Records (GWR) announced that the singer-songwriter is statistically the most popular musician on the planet.
The 33-year-old has earned two new Guinness World Records titles. He had the most listeners per month on Spotify, with 111.4 million listeners as of March 20, and also became the first artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners.
The increase in listeners was driven in part by the fact that the remix of “Die for You,” featuring Ariana Grande, went viral on TikTok, according to GWR.
The track went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 – The Weeknd’s seventh time in the top spot. The original “Die for You” was released in 2016 on his “Starboy” album.
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