The Weeknd Plans to "Kill" His Alter Ego and Stage Name

The Weeknd is getting ready to close a chapter in his music career -- retiring his alter ego and stage name.

"It's getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter," he told W magazine in a new interview. "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."

During the interview, he also addressed what it was like for him to have to cancel a second concert in LA after losing his voice. It turns out, he believes that on a subconscious level, his character on The Idol, Tedros, interfered somehow. "I had to take off the Weeknd outfit, put on Tedros’s wig, shoot with Jocelyn, then go back to being The Weeknd ... Then, after the concert, I lost my voice," he explained. "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. 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."

The Weeknd's latest music release was "Double Fantasy" featuring Future. The track is part of The Idol soundtrack.

Stay tuned for more updates on The Weeknd.

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