The Weeknd, the renowned pop star, who is also well-known for his acting roles, has now opted for a name change. The famous singer has gone back to his birth name Abel Tesfaye on his official social media handles. The ‘Starboy‘ singer, who is also set to make a mark as an actor with the upcoming HBO drama series The Idol, took to his official Instagram and Twitter handles and changed his user name to Abel Tesfaye, leaving his fans and followers curious.

The Canadian singer’s decision to change his much-popular stage name and his decision to go back to his birth name has left his fans and followers speculating that he might be planning to retire. For the unversed, the name change came a few days after the pop star revealed that he would like to “kill The Weeknd” in his interview with W Magazine. “I’m going through a cathartic path right now. It’s getting to a place and time where I’m getting ready to close The Weeknd chapter,” he said in the interview.

This has led fans and followers to believe that the singer might be hinting at his decision to quit his music career, with the name change. However, The Idol actor has not reacted to any of these speculations yet. But in his interview, he had hinted that his upcoming album might be his “last hurrah” under the stage name The Weeknd. It is yet to be revealed if he will continue creating music under his birth name.

During his music career, he has won four Grammy awards, had more than 45 platinum singles and albums and broken many music records.

In March 2023, the Guinness World Records declared him the most popular artist in the world due to the number of monthly listeners he had on Spotify. As of March 2023, the 33-year-old had 111.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and was the first artist to have 100 million monthly listeners on the streaming app.

“The Weeknd currently has almost 30 million more monthly listeners than second-placed Miley Cyrus (82.4 million)” they wrote in a press release.