The Weeknd Changes His Name To Abel Tesfaye, His Birth Name

Canadian pop star, The Weeknd has changed his name on social media to Abel Tesfaye, his birth name. The 33-year-old artist who is known for his catchy pop tunes like Blinding Lights, asked his fans on Twitter if he should make the change, reported BBC.

He asked his fans in a tweet, "ABEL formally known as The Weeknd?" The post received over one hundred thousand likes.

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A post shared by Abel Tesfaye (@theweeknd)

In an interview with W magazine, the award-winning artist revealed that he wanted to "kill the Weeknd".

"I'm going through a cathartic path right now," he said. "It's getting to a place and 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."

Tesfaye went on to say that the album he's currently working on might be his "last hurrah as The Weeknd."

"This is something that I have to do," he said. "As The Weeknd, I've said everything I can say."

Earlier this year, the artist became the most popular artist in the world, according to Guinness World Records (GWR). In a statement, the organisation stated that the singer-songwriter is "statistically the most popular musician on the planet".

"No one else even comes close," GWR stated earlier this week. "The Weeknd is the king of Spotify," the organisation wrote on Twitter.

According to GWR, the 33-year-old Canadian singer has set two new world records. He currently has the most monthly listeners on Spotify, with 111.4 million as of March 20. He is also the first artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners on the digital music service app.