The Weeknd was "angry" when Usher’s song ‘Climax’ came out because he felt he copied his style.
The ‘Starboy’ hitmaker claims that the 2012 R&B song was too similar to his mixtape ‘House of Balloons’, which was released the year before, but admitted he later learned that it’s not a bad thing for someone to take influence from his work, and he ended up finding it "very flattering".
In an interview with Variety, the Canadian singer – whose real name is Abel Tesfaye – said: "’House of Balloons’ literally changed the sound of pop music before my eyes.
"I heard ‘Climax,’ that Usher song, and was like, ‘Holy f***, that’s a Weeknd song.’"
He added: "It was very flattering.
"I knew I was doing something right, but I also got angry. But the older I got, I realised it’s a good thing."
The ‘Blinding Lights’ hitmaker’s manager, Wassim Slaiby, added how it took his "small team" a lot of hard work and determination to get The Weeknd’s career off the ground, and hailed his client for starting a "whole new R&B wave".
He told the publication: "People saw the rise, but have no idea how hard Abel and our small team worked for years before we got the recognition. "Abel created this whole new R&B wave everyone is on now."
Although The Weeknd felt ‘Climax’ was like his music, the producer of the track, Diplo, previously revealed how it actually started off as a "minimal techno record with Atlanta strip clubs in mind".
He said when it came out: "The production actually started as a house thing with a chord progression that I wrote, but with some time in the studio alone, I was making a sort of ‘wildfire’ beat out of it.
"The idea of pushing cut-off on a synth used so much in progressive house music but pulling back.
"I was making something like a minimal techno record with Atlanta strip clubs in mind."
The Weeknd claims Usher’s Climax copied his style
