The rapper recently scored a GRAMMY win for his feature on Kanye West's single, 'Hurricane.'
The Weeknd might be changing things up thanks to his fans' jokes. On Sunday, the Canadian rapper teased that he might drop his last name, Tesfaye, and legally change his name to just Abel.
The Canadian artist was responding to his fans' tendencies to commonly refer to him by his real name, not his stage name.
"you guys are hilarious. i feel like i should change my stage name to ABEL at this point lol," he tweeted. "maybe pull a YE and just legally change my name to ABEL. no last name. Like Madonna or Cher or Prince. I don’t know it seems like a lot."
"Pull a YE" is about Kanye West's petition to change his name from Kanye Omari West to simply "Ye" last year. The 44-year-old rapper filed to change his name on Aug. 24, citing "personal reasons" in the documents. The Los Angeles Courts granted him approval in October.
The Weeknd even suggested how his name be written after the change, considering a switch similar to Prince's after his contractual dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993. Prince changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol and became commonly referred to as "the Artist Formerly Known as Prince."
"ABEL formally(sic) known as The Weeknd?" The Weeknd tweeted.
Unsurprisingly, the tweet was met with a lot of discussions and caught the attention of some famous people, including John Legend and producer Mike WiLL Made-It.
"ABEL is dope," the 43-year-old crooner chimed in, with Mike WiLL Made-It adding that he "f*ck w it."
The singer hasn't made any official petitions just yet, but his fans made sure to let him know they wouldn't be against the change!
"I been calling you Abel. I tatted “Abel Tesfaye” on my arm & the real fans know who it is when they see it 🤞🏽🤣," read a tweet that The Weeknd shared on his page.
"it’s the Habesha in you," read another.
Although he didn't acknowledge it during his tweeting adventures, The Weeknd was honored with yet another GRAMMY Award on Sunday despite publicly boycotting the GRAMMYs last year and vowing not to submit his music for consideration.
The singer won the award for Best Melodic Rap Performance -- shared with Lil Baby and Kanye "Ye" West, for their vocals on West's song, "Hurricane," off his album, Donda. The trio beat out fellow nominees J. Cole, Doja Cat, Lil Nas X and Tyler, the Creator. The award was presented during a pre-broadcast ceremony Sunday afternoon.
The Dawn FM artist said last March that he would be boycotting the annual awards ceremony in the future. The decision came months after his album, After Hours, and critically acclaimed chart-topping song, "Blinding Lights," were snubbed.
"Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label [Republic Records] to submit my music to the GRAMMYs," the artist told the New York Times in a statement at the time.
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