Photographed by Tyler Mitchell; Styled by Sara Moonves

While The Weeknd has “died” in his videos multiple times, the artist, born Abel Tesfaye, says he’s getting ready to kill off his alter ego once and for all.

Speaking to W magazine, Tesfaye says he’s currently experiencing an identity crisis, and not just because he’s playing a character on his upcoming HBO series The Idol. 

“I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he says. “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter.”

“I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd,” he adds. “And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”

He goes on to say the album he’s working on now is “probably my last hurrah as The Weeknd” and declares, “This is something that I have to do. As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”

The Idol, in which Abel plays a charismatic cult leader opposite Lily-Rose Depp‘s aspiring pop star, debuts on HBO June 4.

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