The Weeknd

The Weeknd

Canadian R&B artist Abel Makkonen Tesfaye is better known by his musical alias The Weeknd, which Wikipedia helpfully reminds us is not to be confused with "the weekend". Announcing his arrival in low key style with a series of three 2011 mixtapes, Tesfaye’s career soon took off. He has recorded a duet with Ariana Grande, had a big ballad included in Fifty Shades of Grey (a mediocre film based on an atrociously written book) and collaborated with Drake. There are many interesting appearances and contributions scattered across Tesfaye’s CV, plus an impressive array of philanthropic work as well.

In musical terms, he has accumulated four Grammy Awards and no less than twenty from US chart organisation Billboard for his five studio albums. After his 2013 debut, Kiss Land, the subsequent four Tesfaye albums all topped the Australian charts.

The Weeknd embraces all media for his artistry. Starting anonymously with youtube videos, he naturally gravitated to download/streaming services but clearly loves physical media as well. His 2022 world-wide hit Dawn FM came out digitally, of course, but also on vinyl, CD and cassette.

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