'I came up with it': Jeremy 'Zodiac' Rose explains the history behind the name The Weeknd
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: HBO’s ‘The Idol,’ which made its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival on May 22, was released on Sunday, June 4. The series focuses on a young pop star Jocelyn, played by Lily-Rose Depp, and her tumultuous life.
Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, made his acting debut alongside Johnny Depp's daughter. He is also the co-writer and executive producer of the controversial series, which includes porn photos of bodily fluids on Lily Rose's face and a masturbation scene with ice cubes.
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The Weeknd stage name was not his own idea
The Grammy Award-winning singer was in the news recently after he changed his name on Twitter and Instagram to his birth name, Abel Tesfaye, though his username handles on both social media platforms remained The Weeknd. But apparently, the stage name was not his idea but a former friend and collaborator of the singer, Jeremy ‘Zodiac’ Rose, who said in a 2012 Vice interview, "We started as a group; it was he and I, and we called ourselves 'The Weeknd.' I came up with that name, by the way." He added, "Well, I left. He dropped the 'e.' But he was pushing for some things I didn’t want to do, and it got to the point where he wouldn’t respect my opinion. He wanted me to produce for him without any of my input. And I was like, 'Well then, what’s the point of being a group?' and he was like, 'You can just be my producer,' and I said, 'Are you going to pay me?' Then [I realized he was] not going to pay me. That’s why I backed out. I was like, 'You can have those three or four tracks, I’ll give you the stems, just take ’em, but I don’t want to work with you anymore.' I was really congenial about it, but I told him, 'Just make sure that you give me credit,' and that’s where things went sour."
Who is Jeremy ‘Zodiac’ Rose?
Rose, a music producer who collaborated with The Weeknd on 'House Of Balloons,' lived in Nova Scotia, mostly in Dartmouth, until he was ten. Then he moved to Chatham, Ontario, and lived there until he turned 21. "The music scene there was just kids playing screamo shit. I didn’t really fit in, so that’s why I got out. Then I moved to Toronto. I had some intentions of doing music out here, but I’ve always been a slow worker. I really take my time with it," he told Vice.
How Jeremy ‘Zodiac’ Rose met The Weeknd
Detailing his first meeting with The Weeknd, Rose said, "My girlfriend was working at Poutini’s [a poutine spot in Toronto, obviously] and I used to hang out with a couple of these Australian guys that worked there. That’s where I met Abel, he was hanging out at their house. I was showing them some things in Ableton because they were interested in that stuff and I was playing the beat for “What You Need.” I had that thing for a couple of years and I didn’t know what to do with it. Anyway, Abel was there and he started free-styling on top of it. Yeah, that’s when I asked him if he wanted to work on something—I had this idea for a dark R&B project. I think I talked to Curtis Santiago [aka Talwst, local Toronto R&B dude] about it, but he wasn’t really what I was looking for because he was on some other thing. Abel seemed to suit the project." The first three tracks that they released as The Weeknd were 'What You Need,' 'Loft Music,' and 'The Morning (Original Version).'
Rose, who began making music when was around 14 or 15, told XLR8R, “I’ve always found the collaboration thing kind of difficult. It’s performance anxiety, like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want you to watch me mess around with stuff because it takes me a while to get things sounding good.'"
The Weeknd's take on his stage name
The Weeknd told Capital Xtra, "I left home when I was about 17 dropped out of high school, and convinced Lamar [XO crew member] to do the same lol. We grabbed our mattresses from our parents threw it in our friends s****y van and left one weekend and never came back home... I hated my name at the time though so I tried it as a stage name. It sounded cool. I took out the 'e' because there was already a Canadian band named the weekend."