SCHOOL UNIT "Emanuil Gojdu" Economic College

No……./………..

THEME of the project:

_________ English artist: The weeknd________________

__________________________________
__

Coordinating teacher: Olariu Cristina

Student: TÎRNĂVEAN LAVINIA-DENISA
Grade: 12th B

2024

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 Table of contents

Argument……………………………………………………………………………
…………..3
Précis………………………………………………………………………………
……………4
Chapter 1 - The early life of The
weeknd…………………………………………………..4
Chapter 2 -Career………………………………………………..….5
2.1 Early Beginnings…………………………………5-6
2.2 Trilogy and Kiss Land
………………………………………………………....7-8
2.3 Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy
……………………………………………….....…..9
2.4 My Dear Melancholy, and After Hours……………………………………..10
2.5Dawn FM and The Idol.............................................................................11-12
Chapter 3-
Artistry………………………………………………………………...…13-14
Chapter 4 - Personal life……………………………………………15-16
Conclusion………………………………………..17

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 Argument

I have been listening to The weeknd since I was in the 8th grade. His messages
from behind the lyrics were not so clear for me because I was only 14 years old
then, but with time passing and me growing up I started understanding what he was
trying to say with his lyrics. Since then he has become my favorite singer and that
is why when I had to write about something I chose him.If it wasn't for him, I don't
know if I would have listened to music from the English industry.
His songs had an impact on me when I was in a critical situation in my life so I
think this is the best way to show how much I adore this singer.

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 Précis

Chapter 1

The early life of The weeknd

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye , known professionally as The Weeknd , was born on

February 16, 1990, in Toronto, Ontario. He is the only child of Ethiopian Amhara
immigrants Makkonen Tesfaye and Samrawit Hailu, who separated shortly after
his birth. He was raised in the district of Scarborough by his mother and
grandmother.

When he was 17, The Weeknd dropped out of school and moved to an apartment
in the neighborhood of Parkdale with two friends; including his best friend and
now creative director La Mar Taylor. He has described this period as being like the
1995 film Kids "without the AIDS", as they lived a hedonistic lifestyle. He has also
experienced homelessness and was incarcerated on several occasions during this
time, which encouraged him to "smarten up, to focus."

The Weeknd often used drugs and abused illegal substances such as ketamine,
cocaine, MDMA, magic mushrooms, and cough syrup. In December 2016, he
stated that drugs were a "crutch" for him when it came to writing music. In August
2021, during a cover story with GQ, he described himself as being "sober lite",
meaning that he has stopped using drugs with the exception of marijuana. He also
noted that he drinks alcohol occasionally, stating: "I'm not a heavy drinker, as
much as I used to be. The romance of drinking isn't there."

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 Chapter 2
Career

2.1- 2009–2011:Early beginnings

Main articles: House of Balloons, Thursday (album), and Echoes of Silence

In August 2009, The Weeknd began anonymously releasing music on YouTube.

The following year, he met Jeremy Rose, a producer who had an idea for a dark
contemporary R&B project. After initially trying to pitch the idea to musician
Curtis Santiago, Rose played one of his instrumentals for Tesfaye, who freestyle
rapped over it. Rose produced three songs – "What You Need", "Loft Music" and
"The Party & The After Party" – and others that Tesfaye had sung on, which were
ultimately scrapped. Rose let Tesfaye keep the tracks he had produced under the
condition that he would be credited for them.

In December 2010, The Weeknd uploaded "What You Need", "Loft Music" and
"The Morning" to YouTube under the username "xoxxxoooxo". His identity was
initially unknown. The songs drew some attention online, and were later included
in a blog post from rapper Drake. The songs subsequently received coverage from
various media outlets, including Pitchfork and The New York Times.

Before adopting the stage name The Weeknd, Tesfaye released music under the
aliases the Noise and Kin Kane, with music from "the Noise" being leaked in May
2011. His current stage name was chosen in tribute to when he dropped out of
school, took his mattress, "left one weekend and never came home." However,
Rose claims the name was his idea. The last 'e' was excluded to avoid trademark
problems with pop rock band The Weekend. In the beginning of his career,
Tesfaye worked at American Apparel. Due to his anonymity, his co-workers
listened to his music without knowing it was him.

In 2011, The Weeknd met music executives Wassim "Sal" Slaiby and Amir "Cash"
Esmailian, with whom, along with Taylor, he founded the XO record label.On
March 21, The Weeknd released his debut mixtape House of Balloons The mixtape
included production from producers Illangelo and Doc McKinney, and included
the tracks produced by Rose, although he did not receive production credits. House

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of Balloons was named as one of ten shortlisted nominees for the 2011 Polaris
Music Prize.On August 18, The Weeknd released his second mixtape Thursday,
which received generally positive reviews. His third mixtape, Echoes of Silence,
was released on December 21. It was a longlisted nominee for the 2012 Polaris
Music Prize.
In July 2011, The Weeknd held his first live performance at the Mod Club Theatre
in Toronto. After the performance, Drake met with Tesfaye to discuss
collaborations, which led to The Weeknd earning an appearance at his OVO
Festival. He also participated in concerts hosted by the Black Student Association
at the University of Toronto. Tesfaye contributed to four songs on Drake's second
studio album Take Care, which was released on November 15, as a songwriter,
producer and a featured artist on the album's seventh single "Crew Love".

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2.2 2012–2014: Trilogy and Kiss Land
Main articles: Trilogy (The Weeknd album) and Kiss Land

Between January and March 2012, The Weeknd performed at several Ontario
universities, including Waterloo's Laurier University, Hamilton's Mohawk College
and McMaster University. In April, he began his first international tour; which
included performances at Coachella, sold-out shows at such venues as the Bowery
Ballroom in New York City, which were positively reviewed by Rolling Stone,
and various European festivals, including Primavera Sound in Spain and Portugal,
and the Wireless Festival in the United Kingdom. In September, The Weeknd
signed with Republic Records and XO was assumed as a subsidiary label.] That
same month, he began his first official concert tour: The Fall Tour, during which
he opened for Florence and the Machine on their Ceremonials Tour in 5 cities,
which included 2 shows at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

On November 13, 2012, The Weeknd released Trilogy, a compilation album

consisting of re-mixed and remastered versions of his 2011 mixtapes and three
additional tracks. The album officially credited Rose as a producer and writer on
the three songs from House of Balloons for which he did not initially receive
credit. Trilogy debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with first-week
sales of 86,000 copies. It also debuted at number five on the Canadian Albums
Chart, with similar sales. The album was later certified platinum by the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) and double-platinum by Music Canada. It
also earned Tesfaye a nomination for the Sound of 2013 poll award by BBC.

On May 17, 2013, The Weeknd released the title track to his debut studio album
Kiss Land, and announced the album's release date of September 10. Upon release,
the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 96,000 copies,and
received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album was later
supported by the singles "Belong to the World", "Love in the Sky" and "Live For"
featuring Drake. Tesfaye embarked on a fall tour from September 6 to November
26. As of August 2015, the album had sold 273,000 copies in the United States.
He announced the King of the Fall Tour in June 2014, a 4-city tour of North
America between September and October and was supported by Schoolboy Q and
Jhené Aiko. In promotion of the tour, he released the songs "King of the Fall" and
"Often" in July of that year. On December 23, Tesfaye released the song "Earned
It" from the soundtrack for Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). The single, which peaked

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at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, earned The Weeknd his first Academy
Award nomination for Best Original Song. The song won Best R&B Performance
and was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best Song Written for Visual Media at
the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

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2.3 2015–2017: Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy
Main articles: Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy (album)

On May 27, 2015, The Weeknd released the second single from Beauty Behind the
Madness, "The Hills". The single debuted at number twenty on the Billboard Hot
100, and peaked at number one, becoming The Weeknd's second number-one
single, following "Can't Feel My Face", which had reached the number one
position before it. In June 2019, "The Hills" was certified diamond by the RIAA,
marking The Weeknd's first diamond-certified record.
Beauty Behind the Madness, The Weeknd's second studio album, was released on
August 28, 2015, and debuted atop the Billboard 200, earning 412,000 album-
equivalent units in its first week. It reached the top 10 in over ten countries and
reached number one in Canada, Australia, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The
album was promoted by The Weeknd headlining various summer music festivals,
including Lollapalooza, the Hard Summer Music Festival, and the Bumbershoot
Festival. He announced The Madness Fall Tour, his first large-scale tour across the
United States, which began in November, and concluded in December. The album
was certified double platinum in the U.S., and sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. It
was the most-streamed album in 2015, with over 60 million streams, and was
ranked on multiple lists of albums of the year. The three singles that preceded the
album were certified platinum in the United States. The album won Best Urban
Contemporary Album and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 58th
Annual Grammy Awards.
On February 17, 2017, The Weeknd began his fifth concert tour, called Starboy:
Legend of the Fall Tour. The tour was in support of his third studio album Starboy
(2016) and concluded on December 14, 2017. He visited the continents Europe,
North- and South America and Oceania. On February 15, 2017, Tesfaye was
featured on Nav's commercial debut single "Some Way", which also served as the
lead single from his self-titled mixtape.

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2.4 2018–2020: My Dear Melancholy, and After Hours

Main articles: My Dear Melancholy and After Hours (The Weeknd album)

On March 30, 2018, The Weeknd released his debut extended play My Dear
Melancholy,after news of the project was teased and leaked. The EP debuted at
number one on the Billboard 200 with 169,000 units, making it The Weeknd's third
consecutive number-one album and the shortest album, by track count, to top the
chart in eight years.On April 6, Tesfaye released the EP's lead single "Call Out My
Name", which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. On April 13, he
headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival for the first time. He
appeared in multiple festivals throughout 2018 to support the EP, most notably the
Mawazine Festival in Morocco, Lollapalooza in both Chicago and Berlin, and a
post-race concert at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

On January 11, 2019, The Weeknd was featured on Gesaffelstein's song "Lost in
the Fire", the second single from his second studio album Hyperion. On April 18,
he released "Power Is Power" with SZA and Travis Scott, the lead single from the
Game of Thrones-inspired soundtrack

On February 19, 2020, The Weeknd revealed that his fourth studio album would be
titled After Hours, and would be released on March 20. He also released the
album's title track as a promotional single.On March 7, he made his third
appearance as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, alongside actor Daniel
Craig. On the show, he performed "Blinding Lights" and debuted the track "Scared
to Live".The Weeknd released the album's third single "In Your Eyes" on March
24. The track peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100.
On August 28 2020, he was featured on Calvin Harris' single "Over Now".

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2.5 2021–2023: Dawn FM and The Idol

Main articles: The Highlights, Super Bowl LV halftime show, Dawn FM, After
Hours til Dawn Tour, The Idol (TV series), and Music from The Idol.

Over 2021, The Weeknd reissued his three mixtapes in its authentic form with the
original mixes and samples to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their release,
with House of Balloons coming first in March 2021.Thursday's reissue followed in
August 2021, and in December, Echoes of Silence was reissued.

On April 23, The Weeknd released a remix of "Save Your Tears" with Ariana
Grande, marking their third collaboration.The remix launched the song to the top
of the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated May 8, 2021, becoming both artists'
sixth number one hit. He later began to tease new music in the same month. When
asked about a new album during an interview with Variety, he explained that "if
the last record is the After Hours of the night, then The Dawn is coming".

On October 4, 2021, during an episode of Memento Mori, The Weeknd revealed

that his fifth studio album was complete and that he was waiting on a "couple
characters that are key to the narrative."

The Weeknd released his fifth studio album Dawn FM on January 7, 2022. Upon
release, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 148,000 units,
marking Tesfaye's eighth top ten entry and his second non-consecutive album to
debut at number two. He also broke the record for the most simultaneous entries
for a male soloist on the Billboard Global 200, with twenty-four songs on the
chart. In addition to "Take My Breath", Dawn FM was supported by the singles
"Sacrifice" and "Out of Time". February 26, Tesfaye premiered The Dawn FM
Experience, a television music special in partnership with Amazon Prime Video.

The Weeknd co-created the HBO drama series The Idol with Sam Levinson, and
stars in the show alongside Lily-Rose Depp. The series premiered at the 2023
Cannes Film Festival out of competition, where it received significant controversy
for its graphic depiction of onscreen nudity and sexual content. The series debuted
to widespread negative reviews from critics. The Hollywood Reporter stated that
the series confirms the allegations that "Instead of subtly skewering the
misogynistic and predatory nature of the business, The Idol became a forbidden
love story — the stuff of a toxic man’s fantasy", and called it "regressive rather
than transgressive". He received negative reviews for his acting, with critic Robert
Daniels of The Playlist writing, "The Weeknd is also a terrible actor. He lacks the
comfortability, the gravitas, charisma, and charm to increase the viability of
Jocelyn being attracted to him. In most scenes, The Weeknd either hides under the
cover of dim lighting, obtrusive coverage, or re-recorded dialogue dubbed into

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several scenes."On August 28, 2023, HBO announced it had cancelled The
Idol after one season.

On December 2, 2023, Fortnite announced that The Weeknd would be featured as

the headlining artist for its Fortnite Festival gamemode and a personalized skin of
him would become available to play with on December 9. His skin has three
different variants of himself; the red suit seen throughout the promotional material
for After Hours, the outfit from his 2022 Coachella performance, and two of the
costumes that he was seen wearing during the After Hours til Dawn Tour.

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 Chapter 3
Artistry

Tesfaye cites Michael Jackson, Prince, and R. Kelly as his main musical
inspirations.He has attributed Jackson's music as key in spurring him to be a
singer, referencing the lyrics to "Dirty Diana" as an example.His high-flying vocal
style was influenced by Ethiopian singers such as Aster Aweke.He grew up
listening to a variety of music genres, including soul, hip hop, funk, indie rock,
and post-punk.Tesfaye is heavily influenced by 1980s music, and credits the video
game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) for "opening my eyes" to the music of
that era."I've always had an admiration for the era before I was born", he said in an
interview for Billboard. "You can hear it as far back as my first mixtape that the
'80s Siouxsie and the Banshees, Cocteau Twins play such a huge role in my
sound."
Tesfaye has named Deftones as one of his influences during the making of House
of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence. He has also cited Lana Del
Rey, David Bowie, the Smiths, Bad Brains, Talking Heads, DeBarge, 50
Cent, Wu-Tang Clan, and Eminem as influences and inspirations. When Daft
Punk announced their split in 2021, Tesfaye praised them during an interview
with Variety, saying: "Those guys are one of the reasons I make music, so I can't
even compare them to other people..."

Tesfaye often sings in a falsetto register. J. D. Considine finds his singing's

"tremulous quality" similar to Michael Jackson, but writes that he eschews
Jackson's "strong basis in the blues" for a more Arabic-
influenced melisma. Tesfaye possesses a wide light-lyric tenor vocal range, which
spans over three octaves. His vocal range reaches its extreme low at the bass F
(F2), and its peak high at the tenor G♯ (G♯5), with a natural tessitura within the
upper fourth octave. Tesfaye often makes use of his head voice to build resonance
to belt out strong high notes within the fifth octave. Tesfaye's vocals have a
recognizable Ethiopian characteristic. Hannah Giogis of Pitchfork notes that "his
trademark vibrato, the characteristically pained whine that pervades much of
Tesfaye's music, draws from a long Ethiopian musical legacy of tortured pining.
Imbuing our voices with the shaky pain of loss romantic or otherwise is a hallmark
of Ethiopian musical tradition. Tesfaye, with his staccato wails and aching
nostalgia, is a young, North American addition to a dynasty
of melodramatic Ethiopian singers." In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked the Weeknd at
number 110 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Tesfaye's discography spans pop, R&B, hip hop, dance, alternative, and new
wave genres.His work is generally categorized as alternative R&B, due to his
contributions in broadening the genre's musical palette to
incorporate indie and electronic styles. Mistry writes that he "will be obsequiously

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praised as the future of R&B music—because Tesfaye is a black singer, not
because he's making quantifiable, canonical R&B." Tesfaye shared his thoughts on
the primary label during an interview with Time in 2015, stating: "Alternative
R&B is in my soul. It's not going anywhere. When I put out songs from House of
Balloons in 2010, people said I made R&B cool again. I'm assuming that's when
the label was created. I feel honored that a good part of today's music is inspired by
it, consciously or subconsciously. The only way I could have done that was to be
ambitious and grand." Tesfaye's first three mixtapes; House of
Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, are alternative R&B projects that draw
on dream pop, post-punk and trip hop, amongst others. His debut studio
album Kiss Land is categorized as R&B and dark wave. His next three
albums, Beauty Behind the Madness, Starboy and After Hours, are considered
R&B and pop; with Starboy utilizing heavy trap influences, and After
Hours drawing on new wave and dream pop influences. Tesfaye's fifth studio
album Dawn FM explores dance-pop and synth-pop genres.

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 Chapter 4
Personal life

Tesfaye prefers to keep his personal life out of the public eye. In the beginning of
his career, he refrained from participating in interviews and instead chose to
communicate via Twitter, which he attributed to shyness and insecurities.He
prefers to be interviewed only in rare situations.

From April 2015 to August 2019, Tesfaye was in an on-again, off-again

relationship with American model Bella Hadid. She starred in the music video for
his single "In the Night" in December 2015. He dated American singer-
actress Selena Gomez from January to October 2017. Both of the relationships
received widespread media attention, and were the topic
of tabloid speculation. Tesfaye has been in a relationship with Saudi-born disc
jockey Simi Khadra since February 2022; publications have noted that unlike his
previous romances, he has kept his with Khadra private from the press.

Tesfaye's hairstyle, which has been described as one of his most recognizable
traits, has been claimed to be partly inspired by American artist Jean-Michel
Basquiat.
He began growing it out in 2011 and remarked at how easy it was to maintain with
"a hard shampoo every once in a while".

He cut his hair in 2016, prior to the release of Starboy. On social media, Tesfaye
typically suffixed his first name with "xo", which is often used as
an emoticon for hugs and kisses. According to The Guardian's Hermione Hoby,
this was his intention, though others believe it was a reference to his recreational
use of ecstasy and oxycodone. He later altered the handles on his social media to
reflect his stage name in preparation for the release of Starboy.

In January 2015, Tesfaye was arrested for allegedly punching a police officer
in Las Vegas after being taken into an elevator to break up a fight.He pleaded no
contest and was sentenced to complete fifty hours of community service.

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As of August 2021, Tesfaye was residing in Bel Air, Los Angeles. In 2017, he
purchased a home in Hidden Hills, California for $18.5 million, which he sold
to Madonna in 2021 for $19.3 million. Tesfaye previously lived
in penthouses in Westwood, Los Angeles and New York City.In April 2023,
Tesfaye revealed that he has attention deficit disorder.

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 Concusion

The Weeknd is a talented singer, maybe one of the best, he is an inspiration for the
otherones and alsow an exemple for the teenagers who want to becae a big singer
one day. As I've seen he haves the moste colaborations with a lot of singers that
were known before him which alsow helped him to grow and to have inspiration
when he was writning a new song or album.
Even if he will end his career as a singer in 2024 he will remain my favorite singer
of all times and he will remain one of the top singers and song writer of times.

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