“There’s a lot of weird ... in here,” Abel Tesfaye says about his new home, a high-rise condo in Westwood he just moved into a few days ago.
Tesfaye, better known as the Weeknd, is pointing toward an intricate and ancient-looking drawing of a man and woman midcoitus hanging near his bathroom. The graphicness of the old-world artwork makes him laugh.
Tesfaye has a towel draped over his shoulders, having just had his face groomed, his signature Jean-Michel Basquiat-inspired locks bouncing as he walks. The singer’s thick mane — tsunami, rooster’s comb and double mullet come to mind when describing its peculiar style — is arguably the most famous hairstyle in all of pop.
The place is serene, airy and stylishly decorated — not entirely what you’d expect of a singer whose music is dark, heady and hedonistic. It’s a sprawling maze of rooms, the result of combining two units that give him the entire floor. Every room offers a sweeping view of the city, a fitting vantage point, considering the 25-year-old’s rise over the past year from internet sensation to the top of the world as pop radio king.
The Weeknd’s blockbuster sophomore album, Beauty Behind the Madness, yielded seven Grammy nominations, including record and album of the year, along with an Academy Award nod for Earned It, which appeared on the soundtrack for the 2015 hit Fifty Shades of Grey.
Tesfaye’s breakout year is that much more remarkable given how unlikely a pop star he was.
The Ethiopian Canadian singer (Amharic, his first language, can be heard on his smash The Hills) debuted in 2011 with a trilogy of mixtapes that helped usher in a wave of artists who eschewed conventional R ‘n’ B boundaries in favour of edgier productions. Lush, hazy tales of sex and drugs paired with his brooding, anonymous persona — his real identity went unknown, and he declined all interviews — gained him a cult following.
“I wanted to drop three albums in a year because no one had done it. It was bold, unheard of. Back then I didn’t even want to get onstage,” Tesfaye said of his anonymous start.
Tesfaye’s first major appearance, at Coachella in 2012, failed to deliver on the hype that made him an internet star (“It was a nightmare for me,” he admitted). And although his 2013 major label debut, Kiss Land, opened at No. 2, it didn’t push him to mainstream status.
All of that changed last year.
After notching his first top 10 single with Love Me Harder, a fiery duet with Ariana Grande from her 2014 album, My Everything, he released Earned It. The smoky bedroom number became a breakout hit, reaching No. 1 on the Top 40 chart and further exposing him even more widely to mainstream audiences.
It set the tone for Beauty Behind the Madness, which showed Tesfaye making a major play for pop stardom.
Released in August, Beauty Behind the Madness combined the alternative R ‘n’ B he was known for with expertly crafted pop tunes. It gave him his first No. 1 and is inching toward the 1 million sales mark behind hits like the surprising Max Martin collaboration Can’t Feel My Face and The Hills, a hypnotic jam as unsettling as the Wes Craven classic its title references.
Despite the madness that comes with pop superstardom, the scene at his house on a recent Friday afternoon is low-key. Tesfaye, whose soft-spokenness and affable demeanour would surprise anyone who listens to his records, is swaying gently in the dining room to a Lauryn Hill record as he poses for photos before moving to a room adorned with Native American art and thick padded walls — he plans on turning it into a studio — for a wide-ranging conversation about his massive year.
What was the vision for Beauty Behind the Madness?
When I was performing the songs on Kiss Land, it was a great singalong. But there were moments where I realised some parts were catchier than the others. I wanted people singing everything. The next album might not even be anything like this. It might be me whistling the whole thing.
A big leap toward pop audiences started with the Ariana Grande duet. At the time it felt a little like a left turn for you.
It did. A lot of people say that what I do is experimental, but to me it was the norm. Going into that world really felt experimental for me. It was more of me wanting to work with someone like Max Martin. It was kind of my ticket into that room — and it worked.
Earned It pushed you further into a new audience. Fifty Shades of Grey was an obvious fit for your music. Was knowing what the film could be — the massive built-in audience, the anticipation — the selling point for you?
Fifty Shades, you certainly knew about it before the film. I did like five records for it actually. It wasn’t like, “OK, this is the one.” [Earned It] was a mix of the sexy, dark music I was doing and the Ariana Grande record. It connected as soon as you heard it.
Between Earned It, The Hills and Can’t Feel My Face, you were the king of pop radio this summer. Can’t Feel My Face really lit up in the zeitgeist — the covers, the parodies, you couldn’t escape it.
Tom Cruise lip-synched it! Seeing that, it did something to me. I mean, I had never done a record like that. It was a risk. You want to do risks. Will I do another song like it? I don’t think so, because I did it.
Recently you were here for two sold-out nights at the Forum. An arena packed with screaming fans, singing every word, is such a massive leap from when you debuted at Coachella a few years ago.
It was probably my third or fourth real show. I had the Mod Club [in Toronto, his first performance], a few shows in Ontario and then boom. It wasn’t just Coachella, it was the second-biggest stage, the best hour. We’re hype now, but the hype was crazy back then too. It was a different kind of hype.
It’s a dream come true to be on that stage, but it was a nightmare. I didn’t know how to control my voice. ... I was scared. I watched the tape back and I said, “This is not right. I can do this, but I’m not going to do it like this.”
I told my agent to book more shows. I didn’t want to put out another album until I was good enough to perform and kill the nerves that I have. I just kept touring and touring until it became second nature to go onstage, perform and sing.
It must have felt great going back to Coachella last year and getting rave reviews.
Yeah, that was my revenge.
This is a year where everyone has mostly agreed on the nominations. Is there one where you say to yourself, ‘I want this over any of the others’?
Of course. Puff (Sean “Puffy” Combs) once told me, once you taste a hit you want more. It’s blood. There’s no real answer to it other than yes. But you have to just sit down and enjoy the moment.
You’re also nominated for an Academy Award. The controversy about diversity among the nominees this year has been widespread, and you’re the only major person of colour nominated.
You know, music is so diverse. My fans couldn’t even put a face or colour or anything to my music. The same with film, it’s such a diverse thing. Every movie you see now is inspired by diversity. So it’s unfortunate ... but I think it’s much deeper than the academy or deeper than the film or music industry. It’s an issue that the nation has been dealing with, and I’m glad this has sparked a conversation ... it needed to happen. And good for the academy for trying to make the new changes.
Do you feel any extra or added pressure stepping into that room because of that fact?
Oh, yeah. If Chris Rock pulled out it would have been like holy ... I definitely can’t show up. [Laughs]
What’s next after this? A break? Back to the studio?
I’ve already started. What am I supposed to do? I’m a studio rat. All I do is make music. I’m thinking about music right now. How do I reinvent myself, of course. I’m not cutting my hair though. [Laughs]
How many times do you get asked that?
I used to get asked that a lot. But now they are saying, “Don’t cut your hair.” People asked what I wanted to do with it. It was really me being, not lazy, but me focusing more on what I’m doing in front of me versus how I look.
The album still has legs too.
I’ve got at least three more singles [to come]. I’m shooting a video in a few days for Acquainted. I kinda want to sit back. I don’t want to oversaturate the market quite yet.
You never know what the impact is going to be after the Oscars or the Grammys. That’s a whole new America. There are people who don’t even know who sings Can’t Feel My Face.
Can’t Feel My Face is obviously a nod toward Michael Jackson, and you spoke at length about his influence in a recent documentary about Off the Wall. Tell me more about his influence on you.
Michael, man, that guy was the star. He invented the star. There will never be another Michael. I want to make it very clear that I’m not trying to be Michael. He’s everything to me, so you’re going to hear it in my music. Off the Wall was the album that inspired me to sing. It helped me find my [voice]. I didn’t understand what songwriting was before Off the Wall. “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough,” I kept singing that, and I found my falsetto.
It wasn’t until Bad when I wanted to be a songwriter. Dirty Diana is my favourite song of all time, it is literally my No. 1. It takes all these genres and it puts it into one song — rock, experimental, hip hop, R ‘n’ B. It’s why I wanted to write these dope songs.
You sounded more comfortable as a vocalist on Beauty Behind the Madness. Is that an accurate observation?
Yeah, my singing is of course much more — I don’t know the word to say, experienced. I toured my [butt] off so naturally you’re going to become a stronger singer. But I also, in the mix, made sure that my voice was very upfront as opposed to my past work where I tucked in the back and used my voice as an instrument as opposed to a lead character in the song.
This album is different from anything I had ever done. I’m just so proud of it. And nominated for best album? The last time a solo black artist won was Lauryn Hill and then OutKast. This year you have me and you have Kendrick [Lamar]. The Grammys really nailed it this year. You’ve got Alabama Shakes, which is just great, and Taylor Swift with all of her hit singles. We’re on our toes this year.
Anybody could get it, and losing to any of them, I would give them a standing ovation. You can hear all the hard work in those albums. It was a great year for music.
