Abel Tesfaye, known by his stage name, The Weeknd, has been all over the scene lately. Known for his signature free-form dreadlocks and contemporary R&B styled music, he recently flaunted a new haircut featuring a high top fade. Basically, the “legendary locs” are no longer with us! Along with this, a new song “Starboy featuring Daft Punk” to accompany his new album Starboy, which is said to be dropping November 25th! His new look will be on the cover of this album, which is the follow up to his 2015 album Beauty Behind the Madness.
Initially being a man of mystery, the Canadian-raised singer didn’t even release his face until his debut mixtape House of Balloons in 2011 which created a fan base of experimental R&B featuring dark undertones and musically imaginative lyrics revolving around sex and his use of drugs. Releasing his first album The Trilogy at the end of 2011 which featured all 3 of his mixtapes that he dropped the same year prior to the album (House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence), began the era of an expanding fan base as his transition from underground artist to mainstream continued to rapidly increase in the recent years. Usually being quick to keep his fans in the dark of his upcoming projects, makes this systematical releasing of single after single in a matter of a few weeks, even more unlike his cryptic character.
At the end of September, the singer released a second single off the album called “False Alarm”. Recently, he performed this and his first single at the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, generating mass amounts of television and social media buzz. On October 12th he announced he will be releasing the music video for “False Alarm” the very next day. “Tomorrow … A Gritty Story. Parental Advisory,” he wrote on Twitter. The announcement came in the form of an eerie movie poster via his Instagram page, featuring a group of skull masked people fitting his description of “gritty”. The anticipation grows as the curiosity for the reason behind the violet outlook of the movie poster he presented on his social media accounts. But knowing him, it will all make sense in due time.
With every move The Weeknd makes in his creative process, his OG and newer fans can vouch for his method- and beauty- behind the madness which creates the art he hopes to express to the world. Along with talk of “False Alarm” rumors have been swarming about another possible collaboration with Daft Punk. Even more rumors include his fans believing that this new look implies that he may be returning to his musical roots, since his music has definitely taken a more pop R&B sound, as his career continues to progress. Hopefully, he won’t wait too long to reveal to us if these rumors are more than just rumors. So what’s next for the singer? I guess we will have to wait for him to decide if we are worthy enough of more surprises off his new album.