The Weeknd didn’t think he was “sexy” enough to be an R’n’B singer when he was younger.
The ‘Double Fantasy’ singer – whose music career started in 2009 when he anonymously uploaded his unique style of R’n’B to YouTube – explained how he wanted to be judged for his music and not his looks.
He told Interview magazine: “I wanted to be very calculated about how I wanted people to see me or hear my music. The initial reason I did that was I didn’t think I was marketable when I was younger, especially for R’n’B. I didn’t think I had the right look.
“The R’n’B look was very sexual back in the day. Obviously, there were a lot of singers that didn’t have the conventional R’n’B look, but for me, it was more of a personal thing. I liked getting an unbiased reaction from my music. People got to just judge me for the art, for the music I was putting out.”
The ‘Idol’ star – who co-created and stars alongside Lily-Rose Depp in the erotic HBO drama – admits he found performing live for the first time nerve-wracking because he had to reveal himself to his fans and sing in front of people for the first time at a major event.
He explained: “The real challenge was the live performances, going out there and showing yourself to people for the first time. And on top of that, I had to sing, and I had never performed live before, so I got thrown into the fire for that as well.
“I think Coachella was my first performance in the US and it might have been my fourth performance ever.”
The ‘Blinding Lights’ hitmaker – whose real name is Abel Tesfaye – has just shared the new single ‘Double Fantasy’, featuring Future, from ‘The Idol’.
Abel, Sam Levinson – who is known for creating ‘Euphoria’ – and Reza Fahim have co-created the show.
Meanwhile, The Weeknd was recently crowned the most popular artist on the planet, according to Spotify data.
The Guinness World Records compiled streaming data from the globe’s biggest stars, and the ‘Blinding Lights’ hitmaker has come out on top with a whopping 111.4 million monthly listeners.
The 33-year-old superstar’s mega-hit ‘Blinding Lights’ recently became the most-streamed song of all time on the streaming platform, after surpassing Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’.