Darkness Before the Dawn: The Weeknd’s Road to Fame

The Weeknd has gone through many struggles before rising as a music master. Explore his moving journey from homelessness to global recognition.

In the music industry, The Weeknd is now one of the biggest names with record-breaking hits, Super Bowl performances, and enormous recognitions. Born as Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, now known as The Weeknd, is considered one of the finest artists. But this artist has a journey that can shock everyone within a second. His journey from homelessness to global recognition wasn’t easy, but he made it possible. The Weeknd had a rough start to his life, but it is his talent, skill, and creativity that helped him to achieve all this in his career. His story is a testament to relentless belief, resilience, and constant effort. let’s dive deep and unveil the struggling story of The Weeknd- 

    • A struggling childhood in Toronto: 

The Weeknd was born in Toronto, Canada, on 16th February 1990. He was born to Ethiopian immigrant parents. At a very young age, his father left him with his mother, and since then, his struggle in life started. He grew up with his mother, Samra Tesfaye, along with the help of his grandmother. From an early age, he saw his mother work several jobs to make ends meet. That is why most of his time was spent with his grandmother, who let him learn more about the Ethiopian language and culture. But, as he grew up in Scarborough in Toronto, he witnessed some of the harsh realities. Everywhere he saw crime, poverty, and drugs. As he seen all these things at an early age in his life. It shaped him in a whole different way and later influenced his music creations. This is one of the reasons why his music has so much to do with toxic relationships, emotional detachment, loneliness, and addiction. 

    • Being homeless at the age of 17: 

At the age of only 17, Abel dropped out of high school, and that specific decision changed his life completely. Right after that, he left his home and moved with one of his friends to a small apartment. When he left his home, he went with a little more than a mattress and his passion for music. Without any proper planning, he just went out with it and barely survived. At a certain time, they didn’t even have a place to sleep and ended up on the streets, and became homeless. He slept on couches and depended on others’ food. This was the darkest time in his life, when he truly touched the bottom. While talking about this specific aspect of his life, he said it was self-destructive and chaotic. And then, drugs became a part of his life too. He went into drugs, got surrounded by party culture, and then just mixed up the concept of survival and escapism. However, with his artistic caliber, he came out of the phase and reached a point where he is now. 

    • Making music while in isolation: 

The Weeknd didn’t follow the usual route to get into the music industry. He was in isolation while making music, and in a mysterious way, he released three of his songs on YouTube anonymously. The very first three tracks of him was ‘Loft Music’, ‘What You Need’, and ‘The Morning’, which were released in 2010. Within a brief time, his music gained much popularity. It was first captivated audiences from Toronto’s underground scene. Later, Drake was the artist who supported him and his craft. Drake shared The Weeknd’s music on his blog and took it to a larger audience. With such support, The Weeknd got the opportunity to approach more audiences and gain a larger amount of recognition. It definitely helped him a little bit, but the problems didn’t dissolve quickly. He was still going through a hard time dealing with financial crisis, self-doubt, and obviously addiction. He wasn’t aware of the nitty-gritty of the industry, and it took some time to get into the right direction.

    • The fame of ‘House of Balloons’: 

The Weeknd came up with his debut mixtape, named ‘House of Balloons’, in the year 2011. It was a dark, raw, and quite unique atmospheric project. It wasn’t mainstream R&B; however, it captivated the artists. The project received many critical accolades and was pointed out for emotionally vulnerable write-ups. People were stunned after listening to his songs, as they had so much depth and emotion. But, the real fact was that none of them was fictional and he had to go through them all his young years. Through these songs, he conveyed isolation, emotional turmoil, and instability that he had all his life. However, this music project was quite a big hit, and after that, he released ‘Thursday’ and ‘Echoes of Silence’ and made a trilogy of mixtapes. It was the start of his achieving recognition in his career. 

    • Fighting addiction: 

Amidst trying to be a music artist and finding financial stability, his addiction was a big problem. He was heavily dependent on drugs. At that specific time, he couldn’t even pass a day without doing drugs. In many interviews, he even said that while doing his early music projects, he was high on drugs and was struggling with substance dependence. It became his coping mechanism. At first, it was a coping mechanism for the hard life he had, and then it was his fame. It became like a trauma that he had to live up to the expectations of his fans, and it was a lot of pressure for him at that point in time. It wasn’t not only a financial problem but psychological as well. It was his internal battles that made his life even more miserable. 

    • Getting into mainstream success: 

2015 was the year when he got the chance to get into the mainstream success with his creation, named ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’. With this music album, he reached out to the global listeners. The songs like ‘The Hills’ and ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ were a massive success. With these two tracks, he accumulated a large number of listeners from different parts of the world. Other than this, the track ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ drew more attention from the listeners and was even compared with Michael Jackson’s style, which was humongous for him. On the other hand, ‘The Hills' had more of his style, which was darker. In a rapid manner, both songs claimed the top position on the charts, which helped him to get a step ahead to become a global phenomenon. 

    • Creative risks: 

After 2015, The Weeknd got to establish himself in the industry, but he wanted to express more as an artist. In 2020, he came up with two unique pieces of music, named ‘Blinding Lights’ and ‘After Hours’. It would be safe to say that these two songs just blew the internet. It became the biggest hit of the artist and broke the longevity records on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Through such music, he shaped his career in a whole new manner and gained even more recognition in his career. At this time, he didn’t play music just because he struggled, but to express his passion for music. And right now, he is one of the biggest music artists that everyone has. 

Struggle and mystery were the power of The Weeknd. If he didn’t have these two in his life, he never could have to this point in his life. It can be surely said that The Weeknd’s journey should be an inspiration for all the struggling artists out there.