The Weeknd no more: Toronto music superstar now going by birth name

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Toronto-born music superstar The Weeknd has changed his name on social media to Abel Tesfaye, his given birth name.

The four-time Grammy winner made the switch on Instagram and Twitter shortly after posting a photo of himself as a child being held by his mother, though his username still remains as The Weeknd.

It’s unclear why Tesfaye felt the need to make the shift, but in an interview with W Magazine earlier this month, the artist hinted he was “getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter” in a bid to reinvent himself.

“I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he told the publication. “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.”

He went on to add that his coming album “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,” Tesfaye said.

The update comes ahead of the Cannes premiere of Tesfaye’s television show The Idol at the prestigious film festival later this month.

The HBO series follows pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) who falls under the spell of self-help guru and cult leader Tedros (Tesfaye).

“Abel came to us with a pitch,” co-creator Sam Levinson told W Magazine. “He said something that I’ll always remember: ‘If I wanted to start a cult, I could.’

“What he meant is that his fans were so loyal and devoted that they would follow him anywhere,” Levinson added. “That was the germ of the idea for The Idol: what happens when a pop star falls for the wrong guy and no one speaks up.”

Tesfaye told W Magazine that playing the character might have led to him losing his voice and having to cancel a concert in Los Angeles last year.

“I had to take off the Weeknd outfit, put on Tedros’ wig, shoot with Jocelyn, then go back to being the Weeknd,” the singer said. “It was tough to go from one head to another. Then, after the concert, I lost my voice. No voice came out at all. That’s never happened before.”

Tesfaye theorized that he forgot how to sing because he was “playing a character who doesn’t know how to sing.”

“I may be looking too deeply into this, but it was terrifying. As the Weeknd, I’ve never skipped a concert. I’ve performed with the flu. I’ll die on that stage. But there was something very complicated going on with my mind at that moment.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com