The Weeknd

[WIP]

About

The Weeknd is the alias of Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, a Canadian singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. As The Weeknd, he came to prominence with a trilogy of self-released alt-R&B mixtapes

History

Abel initially came to prominence as The Weeknd through a series of three self-released mixtapes uploaded online throughout 2011, consisting of House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. All three received critical praise upon release. In addition, he also came to prominence as a Drake collaborator, with Abel saying how a majority of tracks on House of Balloons were almost given to Drake for his 2011 album Take Care, though five tracks would be given to Drake, with Abel credited with two features of those five tracks given, and Drake being featured on the song "The Zone" from the Thursday mixtape.

After signing with Republic Records, the three aforementioned mixtapes would be remastered and rereleased in a 2012 compilation titled Trilogy which included three bonus tracks, one for each mixtape in the compilation. The trilogy of mixtapes in total would spawn singles "Wicked Games", his debut commercial single, "The Zone" featuring Drake, and the bonus track "Twenty Eight."

In 2013, he released his debut studio album Kiss Land, followed by his 2015 studio album Beauty Behind the Madness, which brought The Weeknd further commercial success with hit singles such as "The Hills" and "Can't Feel My Face."

In 2016, Abel's third studio album Starboy was released, notably featuring collaborations with French electronic music duo Daft Punk with the singles "I Feel It Coming" and the title track, .

In 2020, following the release of his EP My Dear Melancholy,, he released his fourth studio album After Hours. Featuring a retro 80s aesthetic, it was supported by singles "Heartless" and "Blinding Lights".

Reputation

The Weeknd became known for his unique style of alternative R&B and for his low profile kept during the early stages of his career, with him giving very little interviews during that period and leaving publications speculating as to what the project was, be it a band or a solo project.

Online Relevance

Being a pop star, The Weeknd has a sizeable presence on social media. On Twitter he has over 14 million followers^[1], on Facebook he has over 8 million likes^[2], and the subreddit dedicated to him has over 89,000 members^[3]. In addition to this he has been the subject of numerous memes(as shown below.

Climax Challenge

The Climax Challenge is a Twitter singing challenge that began after singer The Weeknd accused Usher of copying his song "House of Balloons" with his 2012 song "Climax." In support of Usher, fans on Twitter sang a portion of Usher's song in video posts adding the hashtag #theclimaxchallenge in April 2020.

The Weeknd's AMA Bandages

The Weeknd's AMA Bandages refers to R&B singer The Weeknd appearing at the 2020 American Music Awards with his head wrapped in bandages. He was promoting his album After Hours by appearing as "The Character," the protagonist from the concept album. Images of The Weeknd from the awards show led to jokes about his appearance on social media.

The Weeknd's Super Bowl LV Halftime Show

The Weeknd's Super Bowl LV Halftime Show, also known as The Weeknd's Hall of Mirrors, refers to a performance of the pop song "I Can't Feel My Face" by the Canadian artist The Weeknd during the halftime show at Super Bowl LV held on February 7th, 2021. Following the performance, a clip of The Weeknd navigating through a brightly lit corridor was widely circulated as a reaction video and GIF, used to express feelings of confusion and exasperation.

🔥🔥🔥 @TheWeeknd #PepsiHalftime #SBLV pic.twitter.com/QCFlAPcion

— NFL (@NFL) February 8, 2021

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Twitter – The Weeknd

^[2] Facebook – The Weeknd

^[3] Reddit – r/TheWeeknd