The Weeknd is Set to Usher in a New Dawn

On the 2026 European leg of the After Hours Til Dawn tour, Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd performs beneath a striking centrepiece: a 12m-tall gold robot that stands like a sentinel over the stage. Designed by Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama, whose futuristic works have long explored the relationship between humans and machines, the android shimmers beneath the stadium lights. It’s a spellbinding, otherworldly sight. 

Now, just days before he is due to perform four sold-out concerts at Paris’s Stade de France, Tesfaye is standing in a photo studio amid a curious collection of metallic forms and other unusual artefacts. Now, away from the blinding glare of the stadium lights, he cuts a quieter figure, moving with the effortless precision of an artist attuned to his own rhythm.

The scene feels less like a conventional photo shoot than a phantasmagoric dreamscape, conceptualised by multidisciplinary artist Anton Reva to evoke a world in which identity, memory and space continuously shape one another. It’s also a set meant to reflect Tesfaye’s relationship with art — one that makes him comfortable standing before towering sculptures and between surrealist objects.

“My eyes are always open for incredible artists. I’ve become very close with a lot of artists across Asia, but it always comes down to whether they fit the vision,” he tells us later as he describes how he makes the decision about who to work with. “The visual art has always been just as important as the music. It’s the first window into the world we’re creating.”

The world is quietest before the break of dawn, when darkness begins to surrender to light, and the inky blue of night dissolves into the gold of morning. There is something similarly chromatic about Tesfaye’s oeuvre, where each era seems to be drenched in its own colour. His fourth studio album After Hours, for example, was steeped in red, the colour of danger and desire. 

Tesfaye chooses green as the hue that captures the current mood of his music. “It reminds me of [my debut album] Kiss Land,” he says. “I’ve been obsessing over that album recently. I’m in the process of remastering it because it’s the one project I never felt I executed exactly the way I envisioned. I’m excited to go back under the hood and finally make it into what I always knew it could be.”

Tesfaye chooses green as the hue that captures the current mood of his music. “It reminds me of [my debut album] Kiss Land,” he says. “I’ve been obsessing over that album recently. I’m in the process of remastering it because it’s the one project I never felt I executed exactly the way I envisioned. I’m excited to go back under the hood and finally make it into what I always knew it could be.”

In the years since the album’s release, Tesfaye has conjured a universe where music, fashion and film become different expressions of the same mythology. He has also transformed The Weeknd into something far greater than a stage persona — it is a second self who moves seamlessly between the realms of neon-lit excess, dystopian decay and fractured identity.  

“The Weeknd was never a mask I wore to hide from myself, Abel was always there. It was simply a lens I chose to tell certain stories through,” he says when asked whether his earlier proclamation of returning to his birth name is a way of reclaiming the self that existed before fame. “If I create under my own name one day, it won’t be about leaving anything behind. It’ll just be another evolution.”

Six studio albums and billions of streams later, Tesfaye recognises his work is still not done, and there are parts of his musical identity that are still unfolding. “I’m on a journey that I mapped out a long time ago, and so far we’ve reached most of the stops. There are still a few destinations left, and I’m excited to finally get there. Every chapter has taught me something new about myself, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the next few reveal.”

What keeps him curious, even after all these years and all that he has seen? “People. I’ve spent a lot of time in different countries, soaking up cultures and seeing what resonates with me. Even on stage, I’m constantly observing,” he offers. “I’m paying attention to what connects with people and what doesn’t. Every experience teaches me something I can carry into whatever comes next.”

Having grossed more than $1 billion and sold over 7.5 million tickets across 153 shows, the After Hours Til Dawn tour has become more than a commercial triumph — it is a seminal moment in his career. Beyond breaking records, the tour reflects Tesfaye’s evolution as an artist, an expression of a vision he has created across an album trilogy, television series and a psychological thriller. It’s no mean feat, and one that feels like something only he is capable of doing.

Spanning four years, the tour has naturally seen its share of changes, evolving alongside him. Through its iterations, one thing remains clear: Tesfaye wants the experience to be unforgettable. “First and foremost, I hope people feel like they got their money’s worth. I want them to step into my world and forget everything outside that stadium for a few hours. I want it to feel cathartic, immersive and unlike anything else they can experience.” He adds: “Every city teaches me something, so I’m constantly refining the experience. That’s one of the beautiful things about performing live. The show is never truly finished.” 

Being on the road and feeling the energy of his audiences has also ignited a spark, regardless of whether it finds expression through The Weeknd or Tesfaye. “I can’t even put into words the amount of inspiration I’ve felt over the last year,” he says. “I can’t contain it. At one point I thought, ‘What if I just stopped?’ But then I realised what a waste all of that inspiration would be. I can’t let that happen.” 

“I had a glimpse of what retirement looks like, and it isn’t for me,” he continues. “It’s a real privilege to do what I do. There’s nothing else like this job. The gratitude I’ve felt over the last year has been overwhelming. I’m going to keep doing this for as long as I possibly can. The Weeknd isn’t going anywhere.”

Whatever Tesfaye chooses to be when the mythology is stripped away, The Weeknd continues to be a vessel through which he discovers himself. Between light and darkness, excess and reinvention, the question is no longer whether The Weeknd will disappear, but what he might become next.

Photography and Creative direction Anton Reva / Experiment 9
Editorial Director Jumius Wong 
Style Director Jenine Oh 
Casting Jill Demling 
Executive Producer Alexey Galetskiy / AGP NYC
Styling Mitch Modes 
Grooming Marc Cutz
Producer Adrien Sagnier / William Romeo 
Production manager Alexey Bogomolov
Production design VIDE 
Installations VIDE, Isaac Lythgoe
Art objects VIDE, Henri Vanhaerets
Gaffer Alice Brunnquell
Grip Darius Michaud 
Digital assistant Nicolas Fleure 
Production assistants Francis Kante, Glenn Roitfeld, Marie Diallo
Fashion Spring 2027 Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello
Cover Star The Weeknd