The Weeknd responds to Lady Gaga meme about retiring his stage name

18 May, 2023

The Weeknd

The Weeknd has responded to a Lady Gaga meme that has gone viral has he announced the change of his stage name.

This week, the Canadian pop star – real name Abel Tesfaye – announced that he was retiring his stage name and will be known from now by his birth name. It came after he vowed to “kill” his alter-ego.

Last month, he shared a tweet reading: “ABEL formally known as The Weeknd?” and this week (May 15) then changed his social media profiles to the name Abel Tesfaye.

Since then, fans have been reacting to the news on social media, with one Lady Gaga meme dominating the conversation.

In one tweet, a fan shared the caption: “The assistant in the record store when I ask if they have any Abel Tesfaye albums in stock,” alongside a video of Lady Gaga performing the song ‘Babylon’ live, in which she sings: “We only have the weekend.”

Tesfaye shared his love for the meme, replying with the crying laughing emoji. See the tweet below.

The R&B singer hinted at the name change earlier this month, when he admitted that he wanted to “close The Weekend chapter”, and continue his creative endeavours under the new title.

​​”I’m going through a cathartic path right now… It’s getting to a place and time where I’m getting ready to close The Weeknd chapter,” he told W Magazine. “The album I’m working on now is probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd. This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”

Elsewhere, Tesfaye has announced that he would be acting alongside Lily-Rose Depp in the long-awaited HBO series, The Idol. Set for release next month, it was revealed that the idea for the show came from a pitch made by the singer, who told the director that he could “start a cult” if he wanted to.

His final album as The Weeknd was 2022’s ‘Dawn FM’. In January, he teased that he was working on new music.

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