The Weeknd, at first Abel Tesfaye, broke into the song scene with the 2011 mixtape residence of Balloons. He went on to paintings with Drake, Wiz Khalifa and others, at the same time as building his very own profession as an artist. In 2015, the Weeknd enjoyed huge success with the Grammy-triumphing album beauty in the back of the madness, which boasted the hit single “Can’t sense My Face.” His observe-up album, Starboy (2016), also won a Grammy and featured collaborations with artists such as Daft Punk.
Early Years
Born Abel Tesfaye on February 16, 1990, in Toronto, Canada, the Weeknd has come to be one of the tune enterprise’s main opportunity R&B performers. he is the son of Ethiopian immigrants but has had little touch together with his father, who left the family while the Weeknd become handiest an infant. His early musical affects ranged from traditional Ethiopian music to the “King of dad,” Michael Jackson. In an interview with vanity truthful, the Weeknd particularly mentioned the effect of Jackson’s 1979 hit “Don’t stop ‘til You Get sufficient,” describing it as “the song that helped me locate my voice. It’s the motive I sing.”
Mixtapes, Albums & Songs
‘Residence of Balloons’
in no way shy about displaying his vocal skills, the Weeknd began recording his efforts whilst in high school. After losing out, he persisted exploring his hobby in track, and released a loose down load called house of Balloons in 2011. This, together with two more mixtapes, helped push his profession forward. He worked with Drake on his 2011 album, Take Care, which featured numerous tracks from residence of Balloons, and landed a cope with widely wide-spread’s Republic records.
‘Trilogy’
The Weeknd’s in advance mixtapes had been re-launched as 2012’s Trilogy, which became a platinum-promoting document for the young artist. despite his growing reputation, he controlled to cover himself from the public at large. The Weeknd refused interviews for a long term and chose to apply pix of women for his 2013 album, Kiss Land, as opposed to pics of himself. a number of the mystique he constructed around himself was intentional, but it additionally contemplated the shyness and insecurities that troubled him early in his career.
similarly, to his very own paintings, the Weeknd collaborated with other artists. He seemed on Wiz Khalifa’s “bear in mind You” in 2012 and worked with Rick Ross on his 2014 album, Mastermind. That same year, the Weeknd helped producer Max Martin with Ariana Grande’s hit “Love Me tougher,” and also scored success with “Earned It,” the first unmarried launched from the Fifty shades of gray soundtrack.
In 2015, the Weeknd persevered his upward thrust to the pinnacle with the No. 1 album splendor behind the madness. His disco-pop infused single “Can’t experience My Face,” which may be about a romantic revel in or drug use, have become for many the unofficial tune of the summer, at the same time as his ballad “The Hills” additionally made pretty an impact on song enthusiasts.
This nicely-obtained file helped the Weeknd rack up an excellent seven nominations for the 2016 Grammy Awards, prevailing for excellent R&B performance for “Earned It” and fine city current Album. He also earned an Oscar nomination for best unique song, also for “Earned It.”
‘Starboy’
In past due November 2016, the Weeknd launched his 0.33 album, Starboy. along with guest appearances via Lana Del Rey, future and Kendrick Lamar, the studio attempts prominently featured French electronic duo Daft Punk, who collaborated at the chart-topping identify tune and its follow-up single, “I experience It Coming.”
the following year, the Weeknd reciprocated some of the guest contributions via performing on albums for Del Rey and future. He then took domestic the satisfactory urban modern Album Grammy for Starboy in early 2018.
‘My pricey melancholy’
In past due March 2018, the Weeknd dropped My pricey melancholy. featuring the unmarried “name Out My call,” the EP marked a return to the darker, gloomier sound that permeated the artist’s earlier music. rapidly after the EP’s release, the Weeknd headlined the two-weekend Coachella Valley song and arts competition, in conjunction with Beyoncé and Eminem.
The Weeknd lower back to the spotlight in 2019 by making his function film debut inside the Adam Sandler flick “Uncut gemstones.” Later that yr he became lower back to creating headlines with his song, losing the singles “Heartless” — which became his fourth track to top the Billboard warm one hundred — and “Blinding lighting fixtures,” in advance of the March 2020 release of the album After Hours.
extremely good Bowl 2021
In November 2020 it become introduced that the Weeknd could carry out at the 2021 awesome Bowl in Tampa, Florida.
who’s The Weeknd?
The Weeknd is the level call of Canadian singer, songwriter, and record manufacturer Abel Makkonen Tesfaye. He got reputation after posting many of his songs on YouTube below the username ‘The Weeknd’. inspired by using mythical Michael Jackson to come to be a singer, he was later prompted by way of R&B stars like Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Timbaland and The Neptunes. He commenced his career with mixtapes that he released from his personal website at no cost. His 3 mixtapes, ‘house of Balloons’, ‘Thursday’, and ‘Echoes of Silence’, helped him create a faithful fan base. All of his studio albums were received with effective reviews.
suffering from shyness and insecurity as an infant, Tesfaye made conscious efforts to shun publicity at some point of his early career. He averted giving interviews and did not even use his own photo in his mixtape covers. He interacted with his fanatics on Twitter. but he received confidence as his songs commenced to top charts worldwide. He has thus far worked with stars like Kanye West, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Tesfaye, who wants to be remembered for being unique and one of a kind, started out with his Jean-Michel Basquiat-stimulated coiffure, that’s his maximum recognizable characteristic.
formative years & childhood
The Weeknd turned into born to Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye on sixteen February 1990, in Scarborough, Ontario. he is the simplest child of his mother and father who moved from Ethiopia to Canada within the Nineteen Eighties.
He changed into brought up by his mom and maternal grandmother, and would not keep in mind his father who left the family while he changed into one or. His mom worked as a nurse and caterer to guide the circle of relatives, attending night time school at the equal time.
His first language is Amharic, which he learned from his grandmother. He also became fluent in French from the French-immersion elegance he attended till eighth grade.
at some point of his childhood, he attended two colleges, West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute. but he got kicked out of one and dropped out of the other after six months. He then left domestic and started out to live with two of his pals in a one-bed room residence at 65 Spencer Avenue.
career
The Weeknd’s career in tune commenced when he met manufacturer Jeremy Rose. the two quickly commenced working on an R&B album titled ‘The Weekend’. but, the three songs Tesfaye created for him, ‘What You want’, ‘Loft song’, and ‘The Morning’, had been now not used by Rose.
In 2010, Tesfaye created a YouTube channel with the username ‘The Weeknd’ and uploaded the three songs. The songs won popularity quick and were additionally noted in a weblog post providing songs via rapper Drake.
He launched his first mixtape, ‘house of Balloons’, on March 21, 2011. It contained nine tracks, consisting of the songs he created for Rose. The mixtape turned into selected as a nominee for the 2011 Polaris song Prize.
He started to perform stay within a few months and started out collaborative paintings with Drake as a vocalist. On 18 August 2011, he launched another mixtape titled ‘Thursday’, containing nine tracks.
His 0.33 mixtape became ‘Echoes of Silence’, launched on 21 December 2011. This one also contained nine songs and finished the ‘Balloons Trilogy’. The three mixtapes together skyrocketed his fame and made him a star within a year.
In April 2012, he and his band began acting at diverse fairs all through US and Europe. beginning with the Coachella pageant at California, he went directly to carry out at Primavera Sound festivals in Spain and Portugal and wi-fi festival in London.
He signed a deal with Republic statistics in September 2012 and, in a joint undertaking with his personal imprint XO, launched a compilation album named ‘Trilogy’ the following month. The album contained all of the tracks from his 3 mixtapes, in conjunction with three additional entries.
In September 2013, he launched his debut studio album, ‘Kiss Land’, which received high quality critiques from critics. His longtime collaborator Drake made visitor appearance in the track ‘stay for’.
In 2013, he contributed to the soundtrack of the Hollywood movie ‘The starvation video games: Catching fire’. He then followed Justin Timberlake on his ‘The 20/20 revel in international tour’.
In 2014, he collaborated with Ariana Grande at the duet ‘Love Me more difficult’. Later that 12 month, he released the tune ‘Earned It’, from the soundtrack of the film ‘Fifty sun shades of grey’.
In August 2015, he launched his second studio album ‘splendor in the back of the madness’. The album, which contained five songs, featured visitor appearances from Labrinth, Ed Sheeran and Lana Del Rey. The album also protected his song ‘Earned It’.
‘Starboy’, his third studio album, changed into launched on November 25, 2016. Like his preceding albums, it additionally featured guest appearances from well-known musicians like Daft Punk, Lana Del Rey, destiny, and Kendrick Lamar.
In 2016, he labored with Kanye West’s on the track ‘FML’ from Kanye’s album ‘The life of Pablo’. The equal year, he also regarded on the tune ‘6 Inch’ from Beyoncé’s album ‘Lemonade’.
important Works
The Weeknd’s compilation album ‘Trilogy’ peaked at No. five at the Canadian Albums Chart and No. four at the U.S. ‘Billboard’ 200. within per week of its launch, it offered 86,000 copies. It sooner or later reached platinum popularity in america and double platinum fame in Canada.
His debut studio album ‘Kiss Land’ peaked at range two on the U.S. ‘Billboard’ 200 chart. With a sale of ninety-six,000 copies, it trailed the pinnacle rating album by using only thousand copies.
‘Splendor at the back of the insanity’ is his maximum a success album, earning him a couple of awards and nominations. It became the tenth high-quality-selling album of 2015, with 1.5 million copies sold international, and has sold over million copies inside the United States to date.
Awards & Achievements
In 2015, The Weeknd joined the ranks of Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Taylor fast after his track ‘The Hills’ changed his other chart-topping unmarried, ‘cannot feel My Face’, at the ‘Billboard’ warm 100 chart. he’s the twelfth man or woman to have tracks lower back-to-returned at the pinnacle of the listing.
In 2015, his album ‘beauty in the back of the madness’ won Grammy Awards for ‘best city current Album’ and ‘great R&B overall performance’. His track, ‘Earned It’, which turned into blanketed in the album, earned him an Academy Award nomination.
The album ‘Starboy’ received advantageous evaluations from critics and debuted at primary at the ‘Billboard’ 200 chart. It has become the top album in eighty nations within a day of its release.
private existence & Legacy
The Weeknd has been in a courting with runway model Bella Hadid on account that early 2015. She also regarded in his tune video ‘within the night’. however, they reportedly broke up in late 2016 due to conflicting schedules.
In early 2017, he sparked rumors of courting pop celebrity Selena Gomez. apparently, they’ve come close while working on an undertaking collectively.
Tesfaye’s mom and grandmother immigrated in the Eighties to Canada from Ethiopia, and his first language changed into Amharic. whilst he changed into in grade 11, he ends school and left home, devoting himself to unbridled partying. Tesfaye in the end landed a process at American garb and at the equal time began writing songs approximately drug use, informal sex, and alienation. He crossed paths with musician and manufacturer Jeremy Rose, and they commenced working collectively.
Their collaboration yielded three atmospheric songs— “The Morning,” “Loft song,” and “What You need”—with lyrics that were partially sung and in part rapped. The songs, credited to The Weeknd, have been uploaded as audio documents to the video-sharing net web site YouTube in past due 2010; their recognition grew exponentially when they have been published to the blog of Canadian rapper Drake.
With Drake as an admirer and backer, Tesfaye had extra get right of entry to recording possibilities, and through March 2011 he had prepare a 9-music mixtape, house of Balloons, which he launched as an unfastened download. The album received crucial note and become brief-listed for Canada’s Polaris track Prize. Tesfaye made his first public appearance because the Weeknd in a Toronto nightclub in July that 12 months. He released more unfastened mixtapes in 2011, Thursday and Echoes of Silence. further, he contributed to the 2011 Drake launch Take Care.
The Weeknd partnered with Republic statistics in September 2012. months later he launched Trilogy, made up of remastered versions of the songs on the 3 mixtapes; it has become a great vendor. however, The Weeknd’s first studio album, Kiss Land (2013), did not penetrate past his fan base.
The Weeknd ultimately asked his record organization for assist in crafting songs. The outcome was an expert courting with the hit-making Swedish producer Max Martin and a duet with pop big name Ariana Grande, “Love Me more difficult.” The tune, launched in 2014, reached the pinnacle 10. The Weeknd’s next three hit singles, “Earned It,” “The Hills,” and “Can’t feel My Face,” were featured on beauty behind the madness (2015).
In 2016 The Weeknd won Canada’s Juno Award for artist of the yr for the second one consecutive 12 months, in addition to four different Junos, including album of the yr. He additionally won Grammy Awards for nice R&B performance for “Earned It,” and splendor in the back of the madness took the award for fine city contemporary album. further, “Earned It,” which become included at the sound tune of the film Fifty sun shades of grey (2015), changed into nominated for an Academy Award in 2016.
The Weeknd’s success endured with Starboy (2016), which featured collaborations with Kendrick Lamar and Daft Punk. It turned into a business hit and earned a Grammy for high-quality city modern album. His subsequent launch, my expensive melancholy, (2018), recalled the moody, atmospheric sounds of his earlier music.
The cinematic and introspective After Hours (2020) became significantly praised and, like his previous release, debuted on the top of the charts. The Weeknd achieved at the brilliant Bowl halftime show in 2021. the following yr. his fifth studio album, dawn FM, appeared. The work was described as a “dance celebration in purgatory,” and it became narrated via Jim Carrey.
In 2019 The Weeknd made his feature-movie debut, appearing as himself in the crime dramedy Uncut gem stones, which starred Adam Sandler.
Grammy Award, any of a series of awards supplied yearly inside the United States by way of the country wide Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS; generally referred to as the Recording Academy) or the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (LARAS; typically called the Latin Recording Academy) to recognize fulfillment inside the song industry.
Winners are decided on from more than 25 fields, which cover such genres as pop, rock, rap, R&B, united states, reggae, classical, gospel, and jazz, in addition to manufacturing and postproduction paintings, consisting of packaging and album notes. 4 popular awards also are given for report, album, song of the year, and first-class new artist; in general, more than seventy-five awards are supplied. The honorees receive a golden statuette of a gramophone.
To be eligible for a Grammy from NARAS, the recording or track video need to be released within the United States of America among October 1 of the preceding yr. and midnight September 30 of the given Grammy yr. Entries are submitted by way of file groups as well as individuals of the academy and are reviewed to determine eligibility and class placement. The vote casting contributors of NARAS, thru a series of ballots, choose five nominees for each award and in the end the winner; the electorate solid ballots handiest of their regions of understanding. The winners are announced in the course of a televised ceremony.
The Grammy Awards were first supplied by way of NARAS in l. a. in 1959, whilst 28 prizes have been given. Winners blanketed Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and the Kingston Trio. The range of awards has extended as musical genres have emerged. Rock turned into first recognized as a style through the academy at the 1980 rite and rap at the 1989 presentation. An award for excellent tune video was first handed out in 1982 to well known the developing effect of the medium.
In 2011 NARAS greatly restructured the Grammy class device and reduced the full wide variety of awards from 109 to 78. Gender-based classes had been removed, as have been those who prominent among solo and institution efforts. Awards recognizing genres such as Hawaiian music, local American music, and zydeco were folded into a single category, dubbed “local roots track,” and instrumental categories were significantly scaled back. further changes have been made in subsequent years, and by way of 2017 the variety of awards stabilized at eighty-four.
With the rise of Latin music, NARAS created LARAS in 1997. To be eligible for a Latin Grammy, a recording may be released everywhere within the world, but it must be recorded within the Spanish or Portuguese language between July 1 of the previous yr and June 30 of the award yr. the first Latin Grammy Awards rite was staged in l. a. in 2000, with Carlos Santana and Shakira a few of the winners.
Receipt of a Grammy of any type normally effects in more document income, as well as accelerated recognition to the artists. amongst those who’ve obtained the maximum Grammys are Sir Georg Solti (32 awards), Quincy Jones, Alison Krauss, Stevie wonder, and Chet Atkins.
The Weeknd become dubbed the songbird of his generation. He rose above other fellow freshmen with his wealthy expertise in track. Born Abel Tesfaye in Scarborough, Ontario on February sixteen, 1990, he grew up paying attention to a variety of song genres, along with soul, quiet storm, hip hop, funk, indie rock, and put up-punk.
He dropped out of high school at 17 and “left one weekend and by no means came home” with a number of his buddies. It became wherein his moniker came out. It was presupposed to be The Weekend but were given altered to avoid copyright issue with a Canadian band of the equal call.
Tesfaye worked on his song independently and finished from golf equipment to clubs, on the road and online until he eventually was given insurance from Rolling Stone, New York times and different big publications. His lovers grew ever in view that and he dropped his first mixtape “The house of Balloons” in 2011 to a vital acclaim.
Loaded with songs he crafted through the years, he dropped two more avenue albums “Thursday” and “Echoes of Silence” totally free within the equal yr. both acquired sparkling reviews from critics. with his three mixtapes, he developed an enigmatic shadowy persona that set him apart from his competitors.
2012 became a bigger yr. for him. He landed a spot at Coachella tune competition in 2012, and a record deal with Republic quickly observed. A compilation album “Trilogy” featuring songs from his mixtapes and some new songs have been launched later in a joint task with his own imprint label XO.
but his first reliable debut failed to pop out till 2013. “Kiss Land”, featuring sole visitor Drake, entered Billboard warm 200 at No. 2 and crowned R7B/Hip-Hop Albums. It received fantastic reviews from song critics and spawned 3 singles; the title track, “Belong to the world” and Drake-assisted “stay for”.
“Kiss Land symbolizes the excursion life, however it is a global that I created in my head. just like house of Balloons symbolizes Toronto and my reports there, however it’s a world that I created. after I consider Kiss Land, I reflect on consideration on a terrifying place. it is a place I’ve by no means been to earlier than that I’m very strange with,” he stated.
“Plenty of it’s far inspired by using filmmakers like John carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Ridley Scott, because they realize a way to seize fear. that’s what Kiss Land is to me, an environment it truly is just sincere worry. I do not know who I am right now and I am doing these kinds of outlandish things in those settings that I’m now not acquainted with.”
“To me, it is the maximum terrifying component ever. So, while you pay attention the screams within the file and also you pay attention these kinds of horror references and also you experience scared, concentrate to the song because I need you to experience what I’m feeling. Kiss Land is like a horror film.
“Kiss Land” turned into each critical and industrial success. Praised by critics, the album landed at No. 2 on Billboard 200.
Following the album’s arrival, The Weeknd promoted it with his headlining “King of the fall” excursion in 2014. Schoolboy Q and Jhene Aiko have been helping the suggests. at the same time as making ready himself for the tour, he released some new songs along with “King of the fall”. For the relaxation of 2014, he persisted crashing the charts with “Love Me more difficult” from Ariana Grande’s 2d album and “Earned It” which seems on the soundtrack of “Fifty sun shades of grey”. The collaboration with Grande peaked at No. 7 on Billboard hot a hundred, even as his contribution to the controversial film reached No. three at the same chart.
In might also 2015, The Weeknd started out teasing his new album by using freeing a new track called “The Hills” and its track video. some weeks later, some other song titled “cannot experience My Face” leaked online. It went directly to turn out to be the singer’s largest hit to this point, reaching No. 2 on the recent 100. In early July, The Weeknd announced that his 2d studio album “beauty in the back of the insanity” might subsequently arrive on August 28.
His sophomore album has become his biggest album to date, peaking at No. 1 on Billboard 200 and spawning two No.1 singles on the recent a hundred. It also made the reduce to numerous nice Album of 2015 lists.
Following the album’s release, The Weeknd capped off 2015 by means of joining destiny on the rapper’s “Low existence” and dropping his remixed model of Jeremih’s “pass Dat”. several months later, he appeared on “FML” off Kanye West’s long-awaited album “The life of Pablo” and on “6 Inch” from Beyonce Knowles’ “Lemonade”.
The Weeknd began teasing his new album in September 2016, while he chopped off his signature hair and launched the single “Starboy”. offering Daft Punk, it serves because the title track of the singer’s third studio effort, which is scheduled for release on November 25. He has additionally promoted his new LP with the stay performances of “Starboy” and every other tune known as “false Alarm” on “Saturday night live”.
“Starboy” received fine critiques from tune critics and even debuted atop the Billboard 2 hundred chart. The effort racked up 348,000 album devices, marking the 1/3-biggest debut income week of 2016 as well as the second-biggest week for album streams. It turned into later licensed double platinum by means of the RIAA.
freeing an album turned into no longer the handiest issue that The Weeknd did that yr, as he additionally premiered a 12-minute quick film titled “M A N I am” on November 23. Directed by way of provide Singer, it featured excerpts from his 1/3 studio album, together with snippets from “All I recognise” offering destiny, “Sidewalks” proposing Kendrick Lamar, “secrets” and “Die for You”.
way to the fulfillment of “Starboy”, The Weeknd received numerous nominations in the following yr. He changed into able to introduced home numerous awards, inclusive of quality urban current Album at Grammy Awards as well as best Video for “Starboy” at the MTV Europe track Awards.
2017 additionally saw the R&B musician being hit with numerous romance rumors. After breaking up with Selena Gomez, it become reported that The Weeknd reunited along with his model ex-female friend Bella Hadid. He became also spotted getting cozy with Jennifer Aniston at Ellen DeGeneres’ big name-studded birthday bash. at the time, Jennifer had damaged up with Justin Theroux. each rumor had been in no way showed, even though.
The Weeknd determined to take an exclusive method for the release of his first EP, “My expensive depression”. rather than premiering singles off the EP one after the other, the Canadian singer surprised enthusiasts by liberating the entire effort on March 30, 2018.
despite making its way out overlooked, the six-tune set debuted atop the Billboard two hundred chart. The Weeknd also released a track video for track “call Out My call” in advance of his performance on the Coachella Valley music Arts competition in Indio, California on April 13.
