As the June 4 premiere date of The Weeknd‘s HBO drama ‘The Idol’ looms, expect to see more of the hitmaker across your screen and magazine stands.

The latest in a slew of high-profile appearances came courtesy of a spread in ‘W’ magazine shared with the show’s co-star Lily-Rose Depp.

Lensed by famed photographer Tyler Mitchell, the fashion-forward photo shoot sees the duo floss in Chanel, Prada, Cartier, Alexander McQueen, and other designer duds while dishing on the forthcoming music business-based series.

And while the ‘W’ chat is filled with memorable quotes, the standout undoubtedly blindsided the ‘Blinding Lights’ singer’s fans as he revealed he’s likely set to abandon his longtime stage name.

Details inside.

He may have sold over 100 million records as “The Weeknd” since bursting onto the music scene in early 2011 with the ‘House of Balloon’ mixtape, but Abel Tesfaye suggested to ‘W’ that he’s ready to shed the character.

“I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he said to the magazine. “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”

Tesfaye referenced losing his voice in the middle of his hotly-selling stadium tour as a turning point.

“My theory is that I forgot how to sing because I was playing Tedros, a character who doesn’t know how to sing. I may be looking too deeply into this, but it was terrifying. As The Weeknd, I’ve never skipped a concert. I’ve performed with the flu. I’ll die on that stage. But there was something very complicated going on with my mind at that moment,” he relayed.

He concluded the discussion by hinting that his next LP, the follow-up to 2022’s ‘Dawn FM,‘ could be the sunsetting of his famous moniker.

“The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd,” he said. “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.” 

On Sunday (May 14), fans noticed the Canadian musician and actor had begun changing his social media handles to his birth name.

It appears the erasure of “The Weeknd” has already started.

[photo courtesy: Tyler Mitchell / W]

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