The Weeknd believes that he's peaked, and latest record Hurry Up Tomorrow seemed as good of proof as any. It's no surprise, then, that the artist born Abel Tesfaye has been flirting with the idea of retiring his musical persona for at least two years now.
In 2023, he declared he wanted to "kill the Weeknd" — a sentiment reiterated earlier this year when he described the final album of his After Hours trilogy as "closing this chapter" of his entire "existence as the Weeknd."
Now, however, Tesfaye is taking his will-they, won't-they with his pop star-self to new heights by revealing that he might not actually retire the Weeknd after all. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly ahead of this Friday's (May 16) theatrical release of the Hurry Up Tomorrow film co-starring Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, the artist said that, while this all feels like the end of an era, the door isn't necessarily closing.
"It feels like it. I mean, I've kind of toyed with the idea in the past with albums," Tesfaye said. "But it could also just be a rebirth. Who knows?"
What a classically cryptic thing to say, which he'll surely add more mystery to yet when he makes his first-ever talk show appearance tomorrow (May 15). The Weeknd is dead! Long live the Weeknd!