The Weeknd drops ‘pop persona’ and reverts back to birth name - what he will be called now

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Pop star The Weeknd has dropped his ‘pop persona’ and reverted back to his birth name.

The Weeknd has revealed he has dropped his ‘pop persona’ to revert back to his birth name. The ‘Call Out My Name’ singer has used ‘The Weeknd’ since 2011 after he spent over two years releasing music anonymously on YouTube.

The star asked fans last month whether he should change his name on social media. He tweeted "ABEL formally known as The Weeknd?".  On May 15, the award-winning singer changed his name on all his social media channels to birth name Abel Tesfaye.

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In an interview with American fashion magazine W, The Weeknd revealed his name change intentions. He said: "I’m going through a cathartic path right now. It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd.

"But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn."

The Blinding Lights singer is currently recording his sixth studio album and in the interview, he confirmed it will probably be his "last hurrah" using the moniker.

He added: "The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd. This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say."

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The name change comes ahead of the release of controversial series The Idol, which the singer will star in alongside Lily Rose Depp. Over the past few months, the HBO Max series has been plagued with delays and re-writes ahead of its June 4 release date.

The WeekndThe Weeknd
The Weeknd | Getty Images for Live Nation

On March 1, Rolling Stone published an article titled “The Idol: How HBO’s Next ‘Euphoria’ Became Twisted ‘Torture Porn’,” where they made numerous claims about The Idol. However, it wasn’t long before The Weeknd responded to the claims in a short clip.

In the clip, the singer - who is in character as The Idol’s Tedros - turns down the opportunity for Jocelyn to do a cover shoot with the publication, calling them ‘irrelevant’. The Weeknd later tweeted the clip and tagged Rolling Stone, asking: "Did we upset you?"

Rolling Stone’s editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman replied with “not at all” and shared two of The Weeknd’s past cover shoots with the magazine.

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