THE WEEKND
STORY
BLINDING LIGHTS
PLAYLIST
The Weeknd Biography [1990-2022] Life and music of the Starboy
From shoplifting to supplement his ecstasy and oxycodone use 💊, to becoming today’s biggest pop star with more than 2 billion views on YouTube. Take a walk through our Starboy, The Weeknd, life and music.
3 Songs to know The Weeknd
🏆 GREATEST HIT
The Weeknd Starboy
The Weeknd heard a base that Daft Punk (electronic music duo) had in their laptop while recording ‘I Feel It Coming’ (another hit). He got absolutely thrilled a composed the biggest hit of his career, Starboy, in 30 minutes.
💛 TREMBOL FAVOURITE
The Weeknd Blinding Lights
We and the whole world are passionate about “Blinding Lights” (we tell you about it in detail). The Weeknd’s voice with the music of the 80s is an irresistible combination.
🎤 LIVE
The Weeknd In Your Eyes (ft. Kenny G)
Listening to The Weeknd and Kenny G was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. When Kenny plays his flute towards the end of the song it is something spectacular. We will tell you about the collaboration and the other version of the “In Your Eyes” video.
The Weeknd Trembol Card
- 🗿 Name: Abel Makkonen Tesfaye
- 🎂 Year: He was born on February 16, 1990 in Toronto (Ontario, Canada).
- 👫 Genre: Mainly Pop and R&B.
- 😎 Nickname: Starboy.
- ♈ Logo: The logo The Weeknd use in his first YouTube channel and he use in his own music label is “XO (Kiss and Hug)”
Once I feel like the world knows me for anything else but my music, then I feel like I failed.
The Weeknd
The Weeknd 2020 Facebook Image
The Weeknd at a record studio. Facebook Image
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Starboy The Weeknd | Life and Music
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (The Weeknd), born in Toronto (Canada) in 1990, has Ethiopian roots, so much so that he speaks Amharic, the local language.
He had a difficult childhood living alone with his mother, taking drugs and moving out on his own without finishing school.
His enormous talent and a handful of lucky breaks led him to go viral with his first mixtapes. Since then, with 4 albums, he has become one of music’s biggest stars – a story not to be missed!
The Weeknd in concert (Facebook Image)
Abel (The Weeknd) had a difficult childhood. His father abandoned them when he was 2 years old, although he has no grudge against him. He grew up with his mother and grandmother, who were Ethiopian immigrants.
- At only 11 years old, he started smoking marijuana. Over the years he would switch to stronger drugs, even committing petty shoplifting to pay for them. The Weeknd stated in Rolling Stone:
I never needed detox or anything. But I was addicted in the sense of ‘Fuck’ I don’t want to spend this day without getting high
- He left school at 17, he went to live (or badly live) with friends, but in 2010 he would start a YouTube channel with ‘XO‘ alias. It would be the beginning of his way to stardom.
The Weeknd What You Need
2011. First Mixtape, House of Balloons
- After the excitement generated by his first single “What you need”, he released a mixtape (self-produced album with samples that is usually released for free and underground).
The Weeknd High for This
The Weeknd said:
I went from starin’ at the same four walls for 21 years. To seein’ the whole world in just twelve months.
The Weeknd live (Facebook Image)
2011. On the same year The Weeknd would release 2 new mixtapes: Thursday and Echoes of Silence
- After being downloaded 8 million times, a commercial album including the 3 mixtapes came out in 2012, “Trilogy”.
The Weeknd mixtapes covers. Facebook Image
2013.Kiss Land, The Weeknd debut album
- The single “Belong to the World” features his great friend Drake, with whom he had previously shared a lot of time on tour.
- Our Starboy, The Weeknd, releases several very successful singles before his 2nd album: Devil May Cry (“The Hunger Games” soundtrack), Love Me Harder (ft. Adriana Grande) and Earned It (“50 Sombras de Grey” soundtrack)
The Weeknd Belong to the World
The Weeknd famous haircut at the beginning of his career (Facebook Image)
2015. His first number ones come with “Beauty Behind the Madness” album
- It was the most-streamed album throughout 2015, with over 60 million.
- His well-known and alternating relationship with the model Bella Hadid begins
‘The Hills‘ and ‘Can’t Feel My Face‘, along with ‘Earned It‘ held at the same time the top three positions on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. The Weeknd is the only male artist to achieve this milestone🥇
The Weeknd The Hills
The Weeknd Can’t Feel My Face
2015. He punches a police officer in Las Vegas and is sentenced to 50 hours of community service., Can you imagine finding The Weeknd cleaning your park 🚮?
2016. “Starboy”, 3rd album. It is his best record mostly due to these 2 magic collaborations with Daft Punk: Starboy and I Feel It Coming.
- As of this album he starts being known as ‘The Starboy‘
- “Starboy” is such a popular character that it has become a Marvel comic (we tell more on ‘Google most searched questions’ section).
- The video is about to reach 2,000 million views.
- He got his hair cut for this album. It made a great impact on his followers 😱!
The Weeknd False Alarm
The Weeknd Call Out My Name
- In one of the hiatuses in his relationship with Bella Hadid, he would date Selena Gomez for a short time in 2017.
2018 After the great success of “Starboy”, he featured in some albums (Kendrick Lamar, Lana del Rey, …) and released his only EP (Extended Play) called “My Dear Melancholy”.
- He also releases his first greatest hits, “The Weeknd in Japan”
2019. The Weeknd composes a song for “Game of Thrones” album, ‘Power Is Power‘, featuring SZA and Travis Scott. He is big fan of the series.
The Weeknd Power Is Power (Game of Thrones)
The Weeknd Hardest to Love
2020. We reach his biggest international hit: “After Hours”
- Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) became the first artist to lead the Billboard 200, Billboard Hot 100, Billboard Artist 100, Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts simultaneously.
- This album includes the mega-hit “Blinding Light”, which we tell you separately about, and another astonishing tune that he would cover with Kenny G: “In Your Eyes”.
The Weeknd Facebook Image
- The Starboy co-writes and appears in an episode of the cartoon series American Dad.
- We can hear him singing in Spanish another mega-hit of 2020: The Weeknd & Maluma “Hawái”
The Weeknd American Dad
- 2021. The Weeknd releases his 2nd compilation album “The Highlights”.
- It doesn’t include any new tracks, but it’s a really good compilation, almost as good as our Playlist with the 15 best songs by The Weeknd 😎
The Weeknd Super Bowl LV Halftime Show
- Starboy The Weeknd will headline the American Superbowl halftime show in 2021, something only a few artists have the privilege of doing.
The Weeknd Take my Breathe
In August 2021 The Weeknd surprised everyone with the preview of what will be his new album, ‘Take My Breathe’.
- He also announced that he is working on a new series for HBO, which he himself will star in, called ‘The Idol’.
- And he released with Rosalía the song ‘LA FAMA‘ sung entirely in Spanish.
The Weeknd began 2022 with ‘Dawn FM‘, his new album, composed of 16 tracks, featuring Tyler, The Creator, Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, Onehtrix Point Never and Jim Carrey.
- The Weeknd will be presenting the album in a worldwide tour all over 2023.
The Weeknd NFT (Non-Fungible Token)
The Weeknd auctioned off some songs and artwork in 2021 through the ‘Nifty Gateway‘ portal, using Blockchain. He commented:
I’ve always been looking for ways to innovate for fans and shift this archaic music biz and seeing NFT’s allowing creators to be seen and heard more than ever before on their terms is profoundly exciting.
Starboy The Weeknd Facebook Image
It couldn’t be otherwise, The Weeknd ‘Starboy’ has a star ⭐ in the Canadian Walk of Fame for “his positive impact on music, performing arts and philanthropy (he has donated millions to causes such as‘Black Live Matter’, ‘Ethiopic Studies’ or ‘MuisCares Coronavirus’)”.
The truth is that The Weeknd’s music impacts and excite and there is much more to come
Do you want to listen to the best songs by the Weeknd? Check our playlist.
🤔 Google most searched questions about The Weeknd
What is The Weeknd Blinding Lights TikTok challenge?
In the challenge, you have to record yourself dancing the main melody of The Weeknd Blinding Lights tune. You must follow a simple choreography that you can perform alone or with family and friends, at home or any other place.
Usually videos with a group of people dancing receive more “Likes” than those that dance alone.
To learn the dancing steps, just go to TikTok and search for #blindinglightschallenge or #blindinglights. There are thousands of videos to learn from. Then you simply record yourself and upload the video with the same hashtag.
Here is a compilation with the best Blinding Lights challenge performances.
What is The Weeknd name?
The Weeknd’s name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye. He was born on February 16, 1990 in Ontario (Canada).
Why is he called The Weeknd and why is it written without and “e”?
Abel (The Weeknd) chose the name commemorating the day he left home when he was still at high school. It happened at a weekend and he never came back home.
When he decided to be called “The Weekend” he found that there was another Canadian band with the same name, so he removed the “e” and got his final name “The Weeknd”.
What is The Weeknd Starboy?
Starboy is the name of the fourth album of The Weeknd (which, by the way, I strongly recommend). ‘Starboy’ is also the name of the first single with which he introduced the album in 2016 featuring Daft Punk.
But it doesn’t stop there. The Weeknd started a partnership in 2018 with Marvel to develop a new comic book with Starboy as its superhero.
Cover by Eric Nguyen | Image from Fandom
How tall is The Weeknd?
I am always amazed by the questions we have about the bands and artists we like. One of the things that millions of fans of The Weeknd wonder about is his height. Well, The Weeknd is 1.73m (5’8”) tall.
What is XO from The Weeknd?
XO is an expression that means “Kiss and Hug”.
The Weeknd founded in 2012 his own record company called XO under Universal Music Group label.
Just the best, even more now that I know his tough youth!