Out of Time
The Weeknd
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known professionaly as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and record producer. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, romance, and melancholia, and is often inspired by personal experiences. He has received numerous accolades, including 4 Grammy Awards, 20 Billboard Music Awards, 17 Juno Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 2 MTV Video Music Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Latin Grammy Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
The Weeknd
- 2009 - 2011: Early Beginnings
- 2012 - 2014: Trilogy and Kiss Land
- 2015 - 2017: Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy
- 2018 - 2020: My Dear Melancholy, and After Hours
- 2021 - present: Super Bowl LV halftime show and Dawn FM
Tesfaye began anonymously releasing music on YouTube. And then he met Jeremy Rose, a producer who had an idea for a dark contemporary R&B project. The first musics produced by the two were "What You Need", "Loft Music", and "The Morning" which drew some attention online and then noticed by the rapper Drake.
Before adopting the stage name The Weeknd, Tesfaye released music under two aliases; The Noise and Kin Kane. His current stage name was chosen in tribute to when he dropped out of school, took his mattress, "left one weeknd and never came home". The letter E was excluded to avoid trademark problems. Due to his anonymity, his co-workers listened to his music without knowing it was him.
Tesfaye began his first international tour; which included performances at Coachella, sold-out shows at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, which were positively reviewed by Rolling Stone, and various European festivals, including Primavera Sound in Spain and Portugal and the Wireless Festival in the United Kingdom.
On May 27, 2015, Tesfaye released the second single from Beauty Behind the Madness, "The Hills". The single debuted at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at number one, becoming Tesfaye's first number-one single. In June 2019, "The Hills" was certified diamond by the RIAA, marking Tesfaye's first diamond-certified record.
On February 2, 2018, Tesfaye contributed to the soundtrack for Black Panther on the song "Pray for Me" with Kendrick Lamar. The track served as the third single from the soundtrack, and peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. On April 13, he headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival for the first time.
Tesfaye released his second greatest hits album The Highlights. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, making it Tesfaye's highest charting compilation album and the biggest first week debut for a greatest hits album since Fully Loaded: God's Country (2019). Tesfaye headlined the Super Bowl LV halftime show on February 7, 2021, becoming the first Canadian solo artist to headline the show. The show resulted in a surge in streaming and downloads for Tesfaye's After Hours album as well as for the seven other songs he performed.
Tesfaye released his fifth studio album Dawn FM on January 7, 2022. Upon release, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 148,000 units, marking Tesfaye's eight top ten entry and his second non-consecutive album to debut at number two.
House Of Balloons (2011)
Thursday (2011)
Echoes Of Silence (2011)
Trilogy (2012)
Kiss Land (2013)
Beauty Behind the Madness (2015)
Starboy (2016)
My Dear Melancholy (2018)
After Hours (2020)
Dawn FM (2022)
You can visit The Weeknd's website here for more Info.
You can also check his Wikipedia Entry.
© 2022. Kerby Cantos.