The Weeknd’s glory years were from 2010- present. So many lfe changing events have happened for him, in such little time, and with no motivation and support from his family. As he left High school one weekend with a few of his friends, and never came back Abel found his stage name. Abel chose to call himself “The Weeknd” as he left one weekend, and never came back. Of course, the spelling was modified due to copyright issues with the Canadian band “The Weekend”. After he left, he started perforing at clubs, and on streets to get himself recognized. Although that is not the best idea, it was the perfect one for him at the time. Soon he was recognized by a person who changed his life. He showed him a track, and Abel freestyled lyrics onto it. Using the track he made 3 songs called “loft Music”, “What You Need”, and “The Morning”. He then uploaded these 3 songs onto Youtube, where it caught the attention of media.
In 2011, he started to work on his mixtape after the positive reviews from his 3 songs. On March 21, 2011 he released his first mixtape 'House of Balloons on his website for free. As he was getting noticed by the media he kept working on more mixtapes for his fans. In July 2011, he went on tour and performed at the mod club for an hour and a half. This created alot of buzz about the Weeknd, and finally he was recognizable as the singer and songwriter, The Weeknd by public eye. On July 31, 2011 Abel Tesfaye was seen performing with his friend Drake at the 2nd annual ovo fest at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. On August 18, 2011 he released his second mixtape, "Thursday" and that mixtape was definitely one of the best choices he has ever made as that mixtape caught the attention of millions of people all over the world, and created hype for more music. Lastly, he released his third mixtape, "Echoes of Silence' which without doubt grew his music career and fan base by so much.
2012 and after was a even bigger time period for him as his music career took a leap, and he was booked to a lot of gigs, and released albums. in September 2012, he was signed to Republic Records, and accordingly released a compilation album of his three mixtapes called "Trilogy" under Republic Records, and in joint with his record label "XO".Trilogy charted at No. 5 on the Canadan Albums Charts, and No. 4 on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 86,000 copies. On May 16, 2013, his second album 'Kiss Land was released and it sod 96, 000 copies in its first week of sales, and debuted Number 2 on the Billboard 200. The Weeknd then started to collaborate with other artists and movies, such as Ariana Grande, Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Sia, Drake, and movies such as Hunger Games, and Fifty Shades of Grey. In 2014, it was announced that Abel was headlining i the "King of the Fall" tour, and to promote he released a song called "King of The Fall". The Weeknd is now seen as a breakthrough artist, who started out alone in the rough, and now is succeeding. Although dropping out of school was not something you'd want to do, he had the bravery and confidence to go away, and pursue his career, despite knowing the chances that he may not make it in the music industry.
2012 and after was a even bigger time period for him as his music career took a leap, and he was booked to a lot of gigs, and released albums. in September 2012, he was signed to Republic Records, and accordingly released a compilation album of his three mixtapes called "Trilogy" under Republic Records, and in joint with his record label "XO".Trilogy charted at No. 5 on the Canadan Albums Charts, and No. 4 on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 86,000 copies. On May 16, 2013, his second album 'Kiss Land was released and it sod 96, 000 copies in its first week of sales, and debuted Number 2 on the Billboard 200. The Weeknd then started to collaborate with other artists and movies, such as Ariana Grande, Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Sia, Drake, and movies such as Hunger Games, and Fifty Shades of Grey. In 2014, it was announced that Abel was headlining i the "King of the Fall" tour, and to promote he released a song called "King of The Fall". The Weeknd is now seen as a breakthrough artist, who started out alone in the rough, and now is succeeding. Although dropping out of school was not something you'd want to do, he had the bravery and confidence to go away, and pursue his career, despite knowing the chances that he may not make it in the music industry.