The Weeknd, as we read during his NYTimes profile, is attempting to evolve and thus come out of his shell a bit more with his upcoming album Beauty Behind the Madness. We've already seen evidence of this, not only with the New York Times interview, but the singer's recent appearance in a Vogue fashion spread alongside the cast of Empire.
Today The Weeknd locks in another photo spread with a major fashion magazine, this time men's wear magazine GQ. The Toronto native previews Kanye West's collection with Adidas while speaking briefly on his fame, his sound and more.
Read a few excerpts below, and peep the photos from the shoot above. Beauty Behind the Madness drops August 28th.
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Please tell me the story of a pivotal moment while writing or recording this album. The first one that comes to mind is great.
I wrote a song with Ed Sheeran that was kind of spontaneous. He was hosting the Much Music Awards in Toronto and I invited him, and pretty much the entire awards show, to my condo to party. It went on until about 5 in the morning but we didn’t write the song until that next day, so you can imagine how that night went. Ed also did a freestyle battle with Waka Flocka in my kitchen. That was pretty dope. Good times.
Please tell a story about a breakthrough or “aha!” moment in the studio while working with Max Martin.
There were plenty of moments. In a span of like a month, we did so many songs. It was a learning experience for me. When you work with someone who has been doing it for as long as Max Martin you can’t help but learn. Max’s studio used to be Marilyn Monroe’s old house and I came up with the concept for a song called “In the Night” in her bedroom. That was pretty amazing. Unfortunately I couldn’t help but imagine Joe DiMaggio's sperm everywhere on the floor.
At our fitting and photo shoot, you found a comfort zone with the Yeezy clothes pretty quickly. What did you like about them? Why do they work for you?
I really felt like he targeted someone like me. The camo, the army look, the black boots, the nonchalant kind of vagrant look. I relate to it. It relates to my story. Kanye is such a great friend of mine as well, when he asked me I couldn’t say no. It was the least I could do.