The Weeknd Reverses Retirement Plans for His Stage Name, Tells Fans: ‘Imma Be Here Forever With You’

The Weeknd appears to be abandoning his plan to retire the stage name that has defined his career for more than a decade.

During his concert in Stockholm on Saturday, Aug. 8, the 36-year-old R&B star, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, told fans that he had effectively tested what it might feel like to move away from “The Weeknd” identity — and decided he did not like the result.

“I tested retirement a little bit, and I don’t like the way it feels,” he told the crowd in fan-captured footage shared on X.

Then he delivered the line that immediately caught fans’ attention:

“Imma be here forever with you.”

The moment marked a notable shift from comments Tesfaye had made throughout 2025, when he repeatedly suggested that he was preparing to leave The Weeknd persona behind.

Importantly, he had never said he planned to stop making music altogether.

Instead, the idea appeared to be centered on retiring the name and public identity that had become synonymous with his global success.

He Had Been Seriously Considering the End of ‘The Weeknd’

Tesfaye first generated widespread speculation about the future of his stage name in January 2025.

In a Variety cover story, he discussed a difficult period that followed a 2022 concert in Los Angeles, where he suddenly lost his voice while performing.

The incident had a major psychological impact on him.

Tesfaye said the experience left him feeling “defeated” and forced him to reconsider both his life and the identity he had created through The Weeknd.

“I knew that I really needed to sit the f— down and figure out my life,” he said.

He explained that he needed to understand what had happened, confront it directly, learn from it and find a way to begin again.

That process became closely connected to the themes behind his album “Hurry Up Tomorrow.”

Tesfaye described the period as something resembling a mental breakdown, saying that the album reflected much of what he had been experiencing internally.

The experience also intensified his belief that perhaps The Weeknd persona had reached a natural conclusion.

Losing His Voice Made Him Question Whether It Was ‘Done’

In the same interview, Tesfaye revealed just how seriously he had considered ending the identity.

He said part of him interpreted the loss of his voice as a possible sign that he had already said everything he needed to say through The Weeknd.

“Part of me actually was thinking, ‘You lost your voice because it’s done; you said what you had to say,’” he recalled.

The thought led him to consider whether it might be better to leave at the height of his success rather than continue indefinitely.

“Don’t overstay at the party — you can end it now and live a happy life,” he said.

He even connected that idea directly to the title of Hurry Up Tomorrow, suggesting that the project could have functioned as a kind of final chapter for the persona.

Tesfaye also questioned when the right time is for an artist to walk away from a particular identity.

“When is the right time to leave, if not at your peak?” he said.

For him, the issue was not simply about exhaustion.

It was also about reinvention.

“Once you understand who I am too much, then it’s time to pivot,” he explained.

The Pressure Behind the Persona

Tesfaye also spoke candidly about the competitive mindset that can develop around a massively successful stage identity.

By that point, The Weeknd had already become one of the most commercially dominant artists of his generation.

But Tesfaye suggested that continued success could also become a trap.

“You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all,” he said.

He described the music industry as an endless race for more achievements.

“More accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s,” he said.

“It never ends until you end it.”

That constant escalation appeared to be one of the main reasons he was interested in moving beyond The Weeknd identity.

He said he was no longer interested in remaining inside the same “headspace” indefinitely.

The implication was that The Weeknd had become something he knew how to execute extremely well — perhaps too well.

‘The Weeknd’ Had Been ‘Mastered’

Tesfaye made that point directly while explaining that his desire to retire the name did not mean he wanted to retire from creativity.

He said music itself remained impossible for him to abandon.

“I don’t think I can stop doing that,” he said.

Instead, he wanted whatever came next to feel difficult again.

“Everything needs to feel like a challenge,” he explained.

“And for me right now, the Weeknd, whatever that is, it’s been mastered.”

That distinction became central to understanding his comments.

He was not describing retirement from music.

He was describing the possibility of leaving behind a creative identity that had become familiar and replacing it with something less predictable.

By May 2025, the Transition Was Already ‘Getting There’

A few months later, in May 2025, Tesfaye gave PEOPLE another update about whether he had begun retiring the stage name.

“Have I started? Yeah, it’s getting there,” he said.

At the time, however, he acknowledged that he could not completely move away from The Weeknd while he was still touring.

“I mean, I’m on tour right now, so I can’t fully retire it,” he explained.

When asked whether the possible transition had stirred any strong emotions, Tesfaye remained deliberately vague.

“Oh, I can’t tell you too much,” he said.

That answer kept speculation alive.

Fans were left wondering whether Hurry Up Tomorrow might truly represent the end of The Weeknd as they knew him.

The Stockholm Moment Changes the Conversation

Now, more than a year after those discussions began, Tesfaye’s comments in Stockholm suggest his thinking has changed.

Rather than treating retirement of the stage name as an inevitable next step, he appears to have reconsidered what leaving it behind would actually feel like.

His phrase — “I tested retirement a little bit” — suggests that he may have experimented creatively or personally with distancing himself from the identity.

The conclusion, at least for now, was clear.

He did not like it.

That does not necessarily mean his earlier desire for reinvention has disappeared.

Tesfaye has spent years evolving his music, visual style and public image, and nothing in his Stockholm remarks suggests he intends to stop challenging himself artistically.

What seems different is his relationship with the name itself.

Instead of viewing The Weeknd as something he needed to escape, he now appears more comfortable carrying it forward.

From Possible Farewell to ‘Forever’

The reversal is especially striking because Tesfaye’s previous comments were unusually reflective.

He had spoken openly about creative exhaustion, personal identity and the psychological cost of constantly chasing bigger achievements.

He had questioned whether reaching the top might actually be the best moment to walk away.

He had even described The Weeknd persona as something already “mastered.”

But standing in front of fans in Stockholm on Aug. 8, his message was much simpler.

The retirement experiment did not feel right.

And for now, The Weeknd is staying.

“Imma be here forever with you,” he told the crowd.

For fans who spent more than a year wondering whether one of modern R&B’s most recognizable stage names was approaching its final chapter, that sentence may be the clearest answer yet.