The Weeknd says he "forgot how to sing" due to acting in The Idol

Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye – who was recently crowned the world's most popular artist by Guinness World Records – co-created The Idol with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.

At the end of last year, he had to cut a concert short at the Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, because he claimed to have lost his voice. “I don’t know what just happened… but I just lost my voice,” the singer told the crowd from the stage. “This is killing me, I don’t want to stop the show but I can’t give you the concert I want to give you right now."

In an interview with W Magazine, he revealed his theory that filming The Idol had played a role in losing his voice: “I had to take off the Weeknd outfit, put on Tedros’s wig, shoot with Jocelyn, then go back to being the Weeknd,” the singer said. “It was tough to go from one head to another. Then, after the concert, I lost my voice. No voice came out at all. That’s never happened before.”

“My theory is that I forgot how to sing because I was playing Tedros, a character who doesn’t know how to sing,” he added. “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 later added that he's getting to a point in life where he may close the chapter on his music career: "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.”

ABEL formally known as The Weeknd ?

— Abel Tesfaye (@theweeknd) April 3, 2022