\u201cI\u2019m not stepping away from anything. I\u2019m just hibernating.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere. My fans know I\u2019ve shed my skin multiple times throughout my career. I was telling one story from 2020 until now, and that story has reached its conclusion. But that\u2019s only the 2020 story.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments mark a reversal after Tesfaye repeatedly raised the prospect of ending The Weeknd persona as he approached the conclusion of the trilogy formed by After Hours, Dawn FM and Hurry Up Tomorrow.<\/p>\n
He said the inspiration he had experienced during the past year had ultimately convinced him that retirement was not for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt one point I thought, \u2018What if I just stopped?\u2019 But then I realised what a waste all of that inspiration would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t let that happen. I had a glimpse of what retirement looks like and it isn\u2019t for me. It\u2019s a real privilege to do what I do. There\u2019s nothing else like this job. The gratitude I\u2019ve felt over the last year has been overwhelming. I\u2019m going to keep doing this for as long as I possibly can. The Weeknd isn\u2019t going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tesfaye had already publicly signalled his change of heart during an After Hours Til Dawn concert in Stockholm in August.<\/p>\n
He told the crowd: \u201cI tested retirement a little bit and I don\u2019t like the way it feels. Imma be here forever with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision extends a career in which Tesfaye has repeatedly reinvented The Weeknd, beginning with the mysterious online release of music that formed his House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence mixtapes.<\/p>\n
He subsequently became one of the world\u2019s biggest recording artists with albums including Beauty Behind the Madness, Starboy, After Hours and Dawn FM, while songs including Can\u2019t Feel My Face, Starboy, Save Your Tears and Blinding Lights became global hits.<\/p>\n
Spotify this year named Blinding Lights the most-streamed song in the platform\u2019s 20-year history, while Tesfaye ranked fourth among its most-streamed artists.<\/p>\n
His latest album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, completed the trilogy that began with After Hours and continued with Dawn FM.<\/p>\n
The record shared its title with the 2025 psychological thriller Hurry Up Tomorrow, in which Tesfaye appeared alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan.<\/p>\n
Tesfaye had previously moved into television with HBO\u2019s The Idol, starring opposite Lily-Rose Depp.<\/p>\n
The series ran for one season amid controversy over its explicit content.<\/p>\n
His earlier uncertainty about the Weeknd persona followed a September 2022 concert at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles when he lost his voice shortly after beginning the performance and was forced to stop the show.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Variety in 2025, Tesfaye said: \u201cI knew that I really needed to sit the f*** down and figure out my life. To understand what happened, face it, learn something new and start again. I\u2019d had a kind of a mental breakdown, which is pretty much what this new album\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cPart of me actually was thinking, \u2018You lost your voice because it\u2019s done; you said what you had to say. Don\u2019t overstay at the party \u2013 you can end it now and live a happy life\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know? Put the bow on it: \u2018Hurry Up Tomorrow?\u2019 Now we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen is the right time to leave, if not at your peak? Once you understand who I am too much, then it\u2019s time to pivot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abel is currently completing the final Asian leg of After Hours Til Dawn, with dates across Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Japanese hip-hop duo Creepy Nuts and DJ Yousuke Yukimatsu are appearing at selected concerts.<\/p>\n
The stadium tour began in 2022 and has passed US$1 billion ($1.74b) in reported ticket sales. It has also been tied to Abel\u2019s philanthropic work with Global Citizen, with money from ticket sales supporting education and hunger programmes.<\/p>\n
The final scheduled concerts take place at TM Stadium Nasional in Kuala Lumpur on November 4 and 5, with both dates listed as sold out.<\/p>\n
\u2013 BANG Showbiz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m not stepping away from anything. I\u2019m just hibernating. \u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere. My fans know I\u2019ve shed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[267555,267557,29161,267554,53104,321,267553,267551,93,9452,26449,61,60,92597,103290,278,2492,127293,24946,39784,1611,484,4714,267558,331,267552,52298,267550,267556],"class_list":["post-630212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-abandoning","tag-admitting","tag-after","tag-anywhere","tag-away","tag-celebrities","tag-declared","tag-dramatic","tag-entertainment","tag-from","tag-going","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-longer","tag-makes","tag-music","tag-not","tag-persona","tag-plans","tag-retire","tag-retirement","tag-something","tag-stage","tag-stepping","tag-the","tag-uturn","tag-wants","tag-weeknd","tag-worldfamous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}