The Weeknd may be on tour right now, but the countdown to the end of that iconic stage name has already begun.
The 35-year-old musician, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, revealed during the premiere of his film Hurry Up Tomorrow in New York City on May 13 that the retirement of his alter ego is underway.
“Have I started? Yeah, it’s getting there,” he told PEOPLE. “I mean, I’m on tour right now, so I can’t fully retire it.”
While he didn’t go into full detail, he hinted that it’s been an emotional process. “Oh, I can’t tell you too much,” he teased.
Abel has previously opened up about his complicated relationship with fame, and that came through again in this latest chat.
“I’ve always wanted my work to be famous. I don’t know if I ever wanted to be famous, so that whole skill set I haven’t really mastered and I don’t plan to,” he said. “It’s a weird situation, but here we are.”
His film Hurry Up Tomorrow is more than just a side project—it’s a cinematic extension of his album of the same name, which dropped in January. It seems like the artist is transitioning into a new phase of his creative life, one that puts Abel Tesfaye, the person, more front and center than The Weeknd, the persona.
While fans may still know him by his stage name for a little while longer, don’t be surprised if the next chapter is all Abel.
