The Weeknd underestimated 'Blinding Lights' success

The Weeknd, who now goes by his birth name, Abel Tesfaye, admitted he never hoped Blinding Lights to be a roaring success.

"I thought Blinding Lights was gonna be a flop," the musician recently told Vanity Fair. 

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the song racked up 10 million copies in sales and earned a diamond certificate.

The 33-year-old was also fascinated by the younger generation's fascination with his music due to the TikTok boost.

"It's a new generation of angsty teens discovering all the dark music like when I was 14," he said, adding, "Kurt Cobain, Wu-Tang, and all these songs that, as a kid, I probably shouldn't be listening to, and 50 Cent. This **** dark and amazing escape."

In other news, Tesfaye no longer wanted to associate with his now-household name The Weeknd, as he soughts to chart his own identity with his real name.

Speaking to W Magazine, the Starboy singer said that his upcoming album is “probably [his] last hurrah as The Weeknd.”

“I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he said, adding. "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. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”