After Threatening to ‘Retire’ The Weekend Persona, Abel Tesfaye Hits Reverse and Says He’s ‘Not Stepping Away From Anything’

The Weeknd freaked out some of his longtime fans last year when he told Variety magazine that after 16 years inhabiting his stage persona, the man born Abel Tesfaye was ready to move on to his next era and retire the character.

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Well, after explaining at the time that “it never ends until you end it,” now he’s doubling-down on not ending it. Tesfaye, 36, who has been releasing music as The Weeknd since 2011, told a crowd in Stockholm last month that he’d had a change of heart. “I’ll never disappear. I love this too much to ever disappear. I tested retirement a little bit, and I don’t like the way it feels. I said, Imma be here forever with you, I’ll never disappear,” he said, according to fan video of the statement.

Now, in a new interview with GQ Hong Kong, Tesfaye has clarified those comments and explained his strike-that-reverse-it stance. “Disappearing simply means finally taking some time to focus all my energy on one project instead of juggling multiple things,” he told the magazine. “This past five years for me has been creating four concept albums, countless music videos, a TV show, a feature film, and I’m still out here on a massive world tour spanning years. I think disappearing for a little while is well earned.”

And, if that wasn’t clear enough, he added, “I’m not stepping away from anything. I’m just hibernating. I’m not going anywhere. My fans know I’ve shed my skin multiple times throughout my career. I was telling one story from 2020 until now, and that story has reached its conclusion. But that’s only the 2020 story.”

Given his list of accomplishments over the past decade, Abel was asked what he might pursue after the Weeknd is actually “fully retired.”

“I can’t even put into words the amount of inspiration I’ve felt over the last year. I can’t contain it. At one point I thought, ‘What if I just stopped?’ But then I realized what a waste all of that inspiration would be,” he said. “I can’t let that happen. I had a glimpse of what retirement looks like, and it isn’t for me. It’s a real privilege to do what I do. There’s nothing else like this job. The gratitude I’ve felt over the last year has been overwhelming. I’m going to keep doing this for as long as I possibly can. The Weeknd isn’t going anywhere.”

The singer completed a sold-out two-night run of gigs in Lisbon, Portugal two weeks ago and is gearing up to take the ongoing After Hours til Dawn tour to Asia with a pair of shows at Belluna Dome in Tokorozawa, Japan on Saturday (Sept. 19) and Sunday (Sept. 20). That will be followed by stops in Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong, before wrapping up the nearly four-year global tour on Nov. 4-5 at TM Stadium National in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.