The Weeknd explained why he ventured into the world of television.
Playwright Jeremy O. Harris talked to The Weeknd about the singer’s upcoming HBO series The Idol in Interview Magazine. The Canadian artist discussed his desire to see what he could do as a filmmaker.
“I want to challenge myself,” he said. “That alone ends up challenging my audience because they’ve been on this ride with me for 13, 14 years. They know that I never do anything the same as I did before. I let them know that at the beginning. Right after House of Balloons, I was like, “I’m going to give you Thursday,” which sounds nothing like House of Balloons and polarized a lot of my fans. It works a lot of times and sometimes it doesn’t, but what I know is that I do challenge myself, and this was a challenge.”
The Weeknd mentioned he approached his albums like a filmmaker. He was excited to finally put that mindset to work for his own TV show.
“This was something that I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “Film and TV, mainly film, has always been kind of the heartbeat of everything I do artistically. If you see my music videos, even sonically, everything is so cinematic and referential to films that I obsess over.”
The Idol will be shown at the 2023 Cannes Festival in May. HBO hasn’t announced a premiere date for the series.