In an interview with W Magazine, The Weeknd tells us that his role in the series The Idol resulted in him losing his singing voice. “It was terrifying,” he tells the newspaper.
The Weeknd, or Abel Tesfaye as he is actually called, is current in HBO’s new series The Idol where he plays opposite, among others, Lily-Rose Depp. For W Magazine, the artist tells that his participation in the series had unexpected consequences.
Forgot how to sing
The Idol is about pop artist Jocelyn (played by Depp) who begins a turbulent relationship with Tedros (played by Tesfaye), a nightclub manager with a dark past.
Tesfaye told W Magazine that he got into his character so much that he lost the ability to sing. This, combined with Tedros being so unlike his artist persona The Weeknd, resulted in an identity crisis:
“I had to take off my The Weeknd outfit, put on a Tedros wig, record with Jocelyn and then go back to being The Weeknd. It was difficult to go from one character to another,” he says. “Then, after the concert, I lost my voice. No voice came out at all. It has never happened before. My theory is that I forgot how to sing because I was playing Tedros, a character who can’t sing. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but it was terrifying.”
He continues: “I have never skipped a concert like The Weekend. I have performed when I had the flu. I’m ready to die on stage. But there was something complicated going on in my head at the time.”
