The Weeknd Teases Wild Name Change Amid Grammy Night Tweetstorm

By Stephen Andrew

The Weeknd got into a wild Tweetstorm on Grammy night and even teased that he might change his name. In one of his Twitter posts, the award-winning singer wrote, "Maybe pull a YE and just legally change my name to ABEL." This is in reference to rapper Kanye West changing his name to Ye. Notably, The Weeknd's real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye.

The singer continued, "No last name. Like Madonna or Cher or Prince. I don't know it seems like a lot." In another tweet, he also alluded to the possible name change, writing, "ABEL formally known as The Weeknd?" The tweets have garnered a lot of response, with one fan asking, "And when we collectively go back to calling u The Weeknd just to be different then what?" Someone else replied, "Maybe after the After Hours trilogy is done you can drop an album and name it ABEL."

The tweets come as The Weeknd won the Best Melodic Rap Performance Grammy, with West and Lil Baby, for the song "Hurricane." He is also nominated as a featured artist and songwriter for West's Album DONDA and Doja Cat's album Planet Her. The two albums are competing in the Album of the Year category.

Notably, The Weeknd has three previous Grammys. In 2016, he won Best Urban Contemporary Album for his album Beauty Behind the Madness. The same year, he won Best R&B Performance for the song "Earned It." Then, in 2018, The Weeknd won Best Urban Contemporary Album again for his album Starboy. His 2020 album, After Hours, was infamously snubbed by the Grammys, after achieving massive success among fans and critics.

Most recently, The Weeknd released his newest album, Dawn FM, in January. Back in 2021, The Weeknd sat down with GQ for a candid interview about his life and career, telling the outlet at the time that the then-unnamed project was "the album I've always wanted to make." He continued, "What makes any of my albums a successful album, especially this one, is me putting it out and getting excited to make the next one. So the excitement to make the next project means that this one was successful to me. I want to do this forever."

He also addressed the lack of Grammy recognition for After Hours, saying, "When it happened, I had all these ideas and thoughts. I was angry and I was confused and I was sad. But now, looking back at it, I never want to know what really happened."

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