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The Weeknd · S1 E6
The Missing Letter
How Abel Tesfaye became The Weeknd, dropping the 'e' to avoid a legal conflict and creating a mystery
Abel Tesfaye types a name into an online account and deletes one letter before hitting enter. That missing 'e' will be worth billions.
Daft Punk, Around the World (official music video, 1997). Before The Weeknd, the most successful faceless act in music history was two French producers hiding behind robot helmets. Daft Punk proved that erasing your face could make you more famous, not less. Over a decade later, Abel would apply the exact same principle.
Around the World, Daft Punk (1997)
Directed by Michel Gondry, the "Around the World" video is a masterclass in mystery: five groups of dancers representing different instruments, moving in loops on a circular stage while Daft Punk never appear. The song's single repeated phrase becomes hypnotic because it refuses to explain itself. This is the blueprint Abel would follow: give the audience nothing personal, let the art create the mythology. Years later, the lineage became literal when Daft Punk produced "Starboy" and "I Feel It Coming," two of The Weeknd's biggest songs.
Why did Abel drop the 'e' from "Weekend"?
TAP TO REVEAL: Was The Weeknd's anonymity a marketing strategy or a genuine desire to hide?
The Ghost Account
The songs went up on a YouTube account called "xoxxxoooxo" with no profile picture, no biography, and no link to anything. The music spread through blog posts and tweets from people trying to figure out who was behind it. By the time anyone identified Abel Tesfaye as The Weeknd, the mystery had already done its work: millions of plays from a person nobody could name.
“I didn't want to put a face to it. I wanted to create a fan base that loved me for my art.”
— The Weeknd
High for This, The Weeknd
"High for This" is the first sound you hear when you press play on House of Balloons. Over a dark, pulsing beat, Abel whispers "you don't know what's in store" before pulling the listener into a world of excess and intimacy. It is the opening door of The Weeknd's entire career: the moment the faceless artist behind a misspelled name invites you in and warns you at the same time.
High for This, The Weeknd (2011)
Read the lyrics while you listen. The opening lines are an invitation and a warning at once, perfectly mirroring the anonymity and mystique that made a faceless YouTube account the most talked-about debut in modern R&B.
Three songs appear on YouTube from a faceless account, and the internet loses its mind trying to figure out who is singing. Next season: House of Balloons.
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