The Weeknd HHV Records 20 Items

The wild youth and early beginnings

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, born February 1990, AKA The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and producer who cites Michael Jackson, Prince and R. Kelly as his major influences. The son of two Ethiopian immigrants, Tesfaye grew up Ethiopian Orthodox before deciding to move out at 17. With his friends, including creative director La Mar Taylor, they moved to Toronto’s lively Parkdale neighborhood. Under synonyms such as The Noise or Kin Kane, he released his first tracks until uploading several songs to YouTube in 2010. At the time, he was still working at American Apparel and his colleagues didn’t know what was soon to become of him. In 2011, Tesfaye met music managers Wassim “Sal” Slaiby and Amir “Cash” Esmailian, with whom he founded the XO record label with Taylor. House of Balloons, his first mixtape featured production from producers Illangelo and Doc McKinney. During a live performance at the Mod Club Theatre, Drake met with him to talk about a collaboration. During 2011, he released three mixtapes with nine tracks, House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, to critical acclaim.

Star Boy

His first debut studio album Kiss Land was released in 2013, which spawned the singles Kiss Land or Live For. His second album rapidly became a number one album after becoming the first artist to have three songs on the top 3 of the Billboard 200 chart at the same time. That year, he won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album, which he also received for his third album, Starboy (2016), which was more oriented toward the trap genre. I Feel It Coming, recorded with French electro duo Daft Punk, led to similar commercial success. In Vinyl After Hours (2020), also available here, featuring the chart-topping single Blinding Lights as well as Heartless, Tesfaye explored new wave and dream pop. It became the most streamed R&B album of all time, claiming 5 No.1 chart spots in its first week. The deluxe version includes the tracks Nothing Compares, Missed You and Final Lullaby. He appeared on Saturday Night Live for the third time to perform his song Blinding Lights and introduce the track Scared to Live. After Hours landed at the top of the Billboard 200 with 444,000 units and marked Tesfaye’s fourth consecutive number one album. The Dawn is his latest vinyl, from which he sang the song Save Your Tears at the Brit Awards, announcing it with the words “The After Hours are done, and The Dawn is coming.”

The rise to living legend

The Canadian singer is known for his sonic diversity, embellished with his dark lyrics about escapism, romance and melancholy. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards and nominations. With over 75 million records sold, Tesfaye is one of the best-selling music artists and holds several streaming and chart records. Time named him one of the most influential people in the world in 2020, and in 2021 he was named an ambassador for the World Food Program. He also wrote the soundtrack for the film Avatar: The way of the water.