The Weeknd changes his name on social media

The Weeknd appears to be getting ready to move on. The musician and now actor has changed his name on social media to Abel Tesfaye, the name he was born with. He’s still retained his social media handles.

Tesfaye hasn’t revealed why he’s made the change, but he’s been speaking to the press about his upcoming series, “The Idol,” which he co-created and co-stars. His career as an actor seems to be an influencing factor. "I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he said in an interview with W Magazine. “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.”

Although he’s working on an album, he revealed it might be his last as The Weeknd. "This is something that I have to do," he said. "As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say."

“The Idol” premieres this June 4th on HBO Max and follows an aspiring pop idol (Lily Rose Depp) and her complex relationship with a self help guru and apparent cult leader (Tesfaye). While speaking about the role, Tesfaye revealed how tough it was to shift from singing to acting, and how he lost his voice at one point.“I lost my voice. No voice came out at all. That’s never happened before. My theory is that I forgot how to sing because I was playing Tedros, a character who doesn’t know how to sing. I may be looking too deeply into this, but it was terrifying.

Tesfaye rose to prominence in the year 2010, after uploading multiple songs on YouTube and the internet. Over the course of his career, he’s won four Grammy awards, and has had more than 45 platinum singles and albums.