The Weeknd Reverses Course on Retiring His Stage Name, Tells Stockholm Crowd: "Imma Be Here Forever"
Abel Tesfaye has changed his mind about retiring The Weeknd. Speaking to the crowd at the opening night of his three-show run in Stockholm on August 10, 2026, the singer announced that the stage name he has used since 2010 is staying.
"I tested retirement a little bit, and I don't like the way it feels," Tesfaye told the audience, according to Billboard. He followed it with a promise: "Imma be here forever with you, I'll never disappear." Fan video from the show captured him crooning the last two lines like a lyric, turning the announcement into something closer to a serenade.
The reversal closes a chapter that opened in January 2025, when Tesfaye said he was planning to retire the Weeknd alias after his next album. At the time, he explained that he no longer wanted to be associated with the well-known stage name and was preparing to move on from it (iHeartRadio, 13 January 2025). Roughly 19 months later, that plan is off the table.
The announcement came at Strawberry Arena in Stockholm, the kick-off of a three-night stand in the city. The After Hours Til Dawn tour continued on August 10 with the final Stockholm show before moving to London, where Tesfaye is booked for a five-night run at Wembley Stadium.
Tesfaye has released music under the name The Weeknd since 2010, building a catalogue that spans R&B, pop and electronic-influenced records across multiple full-length albums and mixtapes. The stage name and the artist behind it have been inseparable for the entirety of his recording career — which is exactly what makes the retirement talk, and now its reversal, worth noting. An artist who has performed under one name for over 15 years does not walk away from it lightly, and apparently does not walk away from it at all.
For fans, the practical takeaway is straightforward: future releases, touring and branding will continue under The Weeknd. Whatever creative impulse drove the retirement idea — a desire to separate the person from the persona, or to signal a new creative phase — has been set aside, at least for now. The Stockholm crowd got the news first, delivered in the most Tesfaye way possible: as a melody.
