The Weeknd is not retiring. After months of speculation about stepping away from his music persona, Abel Tesfaye says he is taking a break rather than leaving music behind.
In a September interview with GQ Hong Kong, Tesfaye said he is “not stepping away from anything” and described his current period as “hibernating.” He said the story he has been telling through The Weeknd since 2020 has ended, but that does not mean the project itself is over.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Tesfaye said. He also said he considered what retirement would look like but decided it was not for him. He plans to continue making music for as long as he can.
The comments come after earlier speculation about Tesfaye’s plans to retire. In 2025, he said he was questioning whether he wanted to continue performing as The Weeknd. He also raised the possibility of using his birth name, Abel, for future work.
VICE reports that Tesfaye later clarified that his comments were more about the The Weeknd persona than music itself. He said he had taken the character as far as he could and wanted his work to continue to feel like a challenge.
Tesfaye revisited the idea of retirement during an August 2026 concert in Stockholm. He told the crowd that he would not disappear and said he had tried stepping away, but did not like how it felt.
For now, Tesfaye is continuing as The Weeknd. He is also looking ahead to new work after the chapter that began in 2020.
His current After Hours til Dawn tour is still underway, with a Hong Kong stop scheduled for October.
