Wow, it’s so refreshing to see The Weeknd smiling, isn’t it? I’m not going to say that he seems grumpy, but he definitely never seemed like the guy who would smile for the cover of GQ. It’s a great shot, and he has a really sweet, genuine smile. The Weeknd is obviously promoting his latest album, Starboy, which in all honesty I haven’t gotten into. Like, I LOVED Beauty Behind the Madness. That album is SO good. But everything I’ve heard from Starboy has left me feeling… meh. It’s not bad music at all, I just haven’t found my Earned It/The Hills/Can’t Feel My Face jam yet. Maybe that’s the sign that Abel is growing as an artist – he’s moving away from the frothier pop hits. Then how do we explain this mess with Selena Gomez?? I have no idea. As for this GQ interview, he sounds like a totally new person too. He seems calmer, less squirrelly, and like he enjoys his life these days. He also makes the kind of dig on America that only a Canadian can make.
Why he decided to cut off his signature dreadlocks: “I couldn’t walk around without seeing the f–kin’ Weeknd hair. That’s what I called it. New artists, artists that have been around forever––I’m not going to say any names––but they were f–kin’ growing their hair.”
New album, new hair: “I worked really hard on this album. And I felt like I need to relieve a lot of stress. [Cutting off my hair] feels good, ‘cause I get to blend in. If I want to go to a club, I can just go and I’m not there. I can go to a restaurant and I’m not there. I look like everybody else, which is boring, but maybe I just want to look like everybody else for a bit.”
Women rarely proposition him. “I don’t think that’s real. Listen, I’m not walkin’ around like f–kin’ Idris Elba, know what I mean? …I’m not gonna walk into the club and be like, ‘Oh sh-t I’m the sexiest guy in here.’ The reason why they want to f–k with me is because of what I do [in the studio]. So I’d rather just focus on doing that.”
On Donald Trump’s grab-em-by-the-p-ssy comments: “I don’t know anybody that would do that. I know a lot of people in the industry, and I don’t know anybody. Like, a random girl that you just spoke to? No. I mean…No. How do you even grab a p-ssy? Like, is it even grabbable?” He shakes his head. “America, man. They never fail you.”
His thoughts on marriage: “I feel like I’m the kind of guy that would have kids before getting married. The first thing would be kids. Marriage is scary to me, man.”
He’s happy where he is right now: “Right now, I’m much more, like, self-regulating than I was four years ago, when I first started getting everything and enjoying life. I don’t focus on it as much as I used to. You know what I mean? Before it’s like, ‘Holy f-ck––this is amazing.’ Right now, it’s like a good song turns me on way more. Like, that gets me horny, like, literally gets me horny.”
This is America’s epitaph: “How do you even grab a p-ssy? Like, is it even grabbable? America, man. They never fail you.” I don’t know why, but even though the conversation is horrific, I still laughed. Because it’s true: only in America would we elect an unhinged, orange, small-fingered moron after he declared that he can grab women by the p-ssy because he’s famous. Also: “Listen, I’m not walkin’ around like f–kin’ Idris Elba, know what I mean?” I do know. The Weeknd is not Idris Elba. But he’s still cute!
Photos courtesy of Eric Ray Davidson exclusively for GQ.
Wait for it- Trump to Tweet: “I never liked The Weekday. Never did. Horrible person… and Canada sucks.”
HAHHHHAA. Wait. He probably will.
“He’s the most overrated person in the history of people. Sad!”
The Weekday has terrible hair! His songs are overrated. He totally disrespects women. No one respects women more than me! #Sad
If he says “Canada sucks” you’ll get an entire country armed with hockey sticks charging to the White House. We did it before, we’ll do it again 😉
😂 lmao perfect
He’ll plagiarize this word for word!
America has let down the world with this man, and we deserve the hate for electing an 80s has-been who has obviously untreated mental health issues.
Truth. Britain, too, sadly.
I felt indignant yesterday when the current president of the EU said Britain’s brexit deal would HAVE to be inferior to the current deal…and then I listened to what he had to add, and you know, he’s right. We made our bed, now we get to lay in it.
Same for America, we elected the moron, now we get to watch him set everything on fire.
Aren’t I lucky being part of two very fucked up ‘we’s’? Barely holding on to my sanity. Sadface.
I honestly forgot that feeling of embarrassment I had during the Bush presidency every time he humiliated himself on a world/national stage and that going to be nothing in comparison.
I honestly gotta relisten but I’ve really disliked the new stuff ( I Mean Stargirl Interlude on repeat Tho!) I feel like Trilogy was him at his best, I also really really play Kissland in regular basis, He could benefit from his old producer and also paring down the amount of tracks in Starboy
Yes, QQ!! Trilogy was a masterpiece. My bf got me into him a few years ago, and then he just blew up! I think he’s talented, but his music has devolved into this I’m-a-cool-druggie-and-I-f*ck-women-cuz-I-dont’t-care thing and it’s just not as good.
I feel bad about disliking the new album because he’s clearly passionate about the work, but it honestly sounds dull and repetitive in comparison to his earlier work.
Same! Cause you do get that from interviews, It’s good ambition, He learned to polish himself, present himself better, work with other people etc so OBVI he wants this and hey! It’s coming BUT I can’t help it as Old XO crew this stuff come off super manicured and disjointed.. and Blessings on sparing us a bunch of Features from Folks Like Ed Sheeran .. but its just kinda …*sigh* Less good
“Is it even grabbable?” That’s funny. And it makes me want to wear long, heavy skirts when I go to the USA.
WATP- hoop skirts. We need hoop skirts in Trump’s pu–y grabbing America. Or chastity belts.
Or bring on the Vagina Dentata! I’d love to take off a few fingers.
I have to admit that the same thought crossed my mind.
Wait, how is his relationship with Selena messy? She has said some problematic crap, but so has he. So has Bella. Bella broke up with him months ago. There is literally nothing messy about it. I feel like Bella is trying to gain sympathy and attention from this and it’s annoying. It’s making me feel defensive about people I normally couldn’t care less about!
I think they were calling it “this mess” because the pics seemed attention-seeking and thirsty (more on her part, IMO).
Hmm. I’ll reserve judgement, for now.
He dates only much younger women, his songs are all about bad behaviour, has a charming smile, very little down time between gfs. I would be very worried if a friend started dating him.
selena is only 2 years younger than him though?
The Weeknd > Idris any day of the week! He’s so darn cute.
He is so nice to look at. Oh,baby. I know I’m supposed to focus on his music (which I like) but oooooh. So Fine. That smile.
Thanks! I truly do not get the Idris Elba fanning. AT ALL!
Tomorrow is Black Friday.
yup
“I couldn’t walk around without seeing the f–kin’ Weeknd hair. That’s what I called it. New artists, artists that have been around forever––I’m not going to say any names––but they were f–kin’ growing their hair.”
Oh, you mean the JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT HAIR that you stole?! I hate when people take credit for shit like they invented it. This kid is gross and misogynistic. He can go somewhere with that ego.
I don’t think he is claiming to have invented it – and before Basquiat other people wore their hair like that, no? – but his hairstyle got him a lot of attention. Before listening to his music that’s how I started noticing him. Like FKA Twigs with the nose piercing and the baby hair gelled on, Alison Mosshart with her rock&roll style etc.
Now I see the sexiest man on earth, Lenny Kravitz has recently been going back to dreadlocks. Does this guy think Lenny’s trying to look like him?
I didn’t say any of that. What I said was is that this kid stole his style from Jean Michel. He has said it himself in interviews. Now he is pulling the, “I had to switch it up because everyone wanted to be original like me” when he wasn’t an original in the first place and directly stole someone else’s style. There’s a Picasso quote… “Good artists copy, great artists steal” and there’s truth to that. But still, I think he liked the fact that there are some people out there that thought he was the first guy to ever hear his hair that way, and that’s exactly what the remark I quoted above implied.
I agree, Lenny is SO gorgeous no matter how he wears his hair.
And to answer the question about whether or not other people wore their hair the way that Basquiat did before he did it… Yeah, probably, but it was pretty unique to him and a quality he was very much famous for, so…
@Anilehcim His art is not his hair but his music, don’t you think? 😉
But ok, I don’t know the guy personally, he seems to have his issues, so I am not gonna endlessly defend him and I see his comment rubbed you in the wrong way and I can see why.
But I’ll tell you one thing: it’s the people who don’t know Basquiat who are in the wrong if they think he invented this hair if the guy says himself that he was emulating “Jean Michel” as you call him.
Originality is over-rated. We interpret. Everything has already been invented. Art is about perspective. But thats just my opinion, as I think you raised a really interesting subject I am quite passionate about, originality & art.
@Anilehchim I don’t even know who this Weekend guy is, but I was agreeing about hating when people take credit for being original and clearly he’s not. Plenty of people have had the “Weekend” hair for a long time and he sounds silly calling it that.
America is to blame for Trumps comment? Huh. Ok.
America is certainly responsible for breeding the cultural climate that wouldn’t immediately condemn such behavior and then reward it with a presidency.
+1
yup
+1+1
I have to say that I really like some of his songs. He has a really great voice. And he is sexy in a way that surprises you – the most dangerous way! He came across ok in the interview.
I really love Starboy, its a great sexy, decadent song.
He is so nice to look at. Oh,baby. I know I’m supposed to focus on his music (which I like) but oooooh. So Fine. That smile.
I feel like there is something really gross about his comment that he’ll have kids, but marriage is too scary to consider. But I can’t exactly put my finger on it. It is a little misogynist? Like, I’ll knock someone up but I won’t commit to them? Or does he think being a parent is less of a commitment than being a husband – like you can walk away from a kid but not from a wife. This somehow left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Nope I think he’s a connittment phobe.
Not that he’s thinking about it this deeply but marrage itself is a contract originated in the misogynistic idea of women as chattel to be sold from one man to another. .
That bothered me too! It made me feel bad for his future kids, especially his daughters. What kind of a message does that give them?
i can answer that, and i’m a woman. i’m not interested in marriage, for several reasons e.g. feels outdated to me, my parents divorced, and yes i’m not into lifetime commitment of that kind because i don’t necessarily believe you only love one person forever. if you’re lucky, life is long, you get to change a lot. what you love now isn’t necessarily what you’re gonna love in 20 years, so i see no point in marriage.
children on the other side, you’ll love them all your life and take care of them no matter what. that’s a commitment i can take, as it seems realistic to me.
we really need to stop demonising people who don’t want to get married, it’s a life choice and some people aren’t comfortable with that. it doesn’t make them misogynist or bad people.
Yes, I did exactly what he says. Had children and then got married, 20 years later. To the kids’ dad. I find children to be much more of a committment with a person than marriage, which is just a party or an event with a signature (if one is not religious). Or two different kinds of committment. After all, you can parent without being in a love relationship with the person. People do this, successfully, all the time. Being connected, linked with a person on paper, romantically, for life, is another.
Yeah, I don’t. Get that. Kids are way more of a commitment than marriage. I mean, you can’t just leave your kids like you could your spouse if things got bad.
i love him, and his music, and i liked with bella. selena, not so much.
Haha! Great interview. The “No. I mean…No” bit was amazing. It goes to show there’s more to him than the hair (yes, I know he took it from Basquiat) and the dark lyrics. And while I prefer The Trilogy, Starboy is FAR from being a bad album. My favorite song atm is I Feel It Coming, feat. Daft Punk.
He is looking DAMN good in that second picture. Ethiopia stand up, the women and the men are beautiful, I can’t deal.
His new song sounds so much like Michael it’s unnerving to me.
I was meh on Starboy til I found out Daft Punk was involved now it’s my jam.
I think his comments are a dig at J.Cole about artists being around forever growing their hair. Well damn!