The Weeknd opens up about 2015 arrest: "It was a real rock-star era, which I’m not really proud of"
The Weeknd has opened up about one of the “darkest” periods of his life, culminating in the singer getting arrested in Las Vegas after punching a police officer.
The artist, real name Abel Tesfaye, was arrested on one count of misdemeanor battery of a protected person on January 10, 2015, following an incident at the Cromwell Hotel in Las Vegas.
Tesfaye explained to Variety that ‘Faith’, from his latest album ‘After Hours’, addresses that era of his career “around 2013, 2014,” calling it “the darkest time of my entire life.”
“I was getting really, really tossed up and going through a lot of personal stuff,” he said in the new interview. “I got arrested in Vegas. It was a real rock-star era, which I’m not really proud of.
“You hear sirens at the end of the song – that’s me in the back of the cop car, that moment.”
The singer explained he hadn’t fully addressed the event on previous Weeknd albums before, but that now was the “perfect time” to detail it in song.
“[The character] is looking for an escape after a heartbreak or whatever. I wanted to be that guy again — the ‘Heartless’ guy who hates God and is losing his fucking religion and hating what he looks like in the mirror so he keeps getting high. That’s who this song is.”
Meanwhile, The Weeknd recently admitted that he initially thought that “it might have been insensitive” to release his new album ‘After Hours’ while the world is grappling with the coronavirus health crisis.
The Toronto artist released his fourth studio album as planned on March 20.
