The Weeknd
Abel Tesfaye left home at 17, dragging his mattress out of the apartment. He moved into a one-bedroom shared space funded by welfare checks and cannabis sales. A year later, Drake found his music on Tumblr with zero promotion behind it. "Starboy" came together in Paris when Guy-Manuel of Daft Punk opened a laptop and started playing an unexpected drum loop. The whole track was done in under 30 minutes. The Weeknd hadn't planned it as a single. His debut live show, at a 600-capacity venue in July 2011, sold out in 90 minutes, with tickets reselling for $250 to $300.
In our deep dive into Starboy, we trace the artist from a mattress on the street to a Paris studio session with Daft Punk, and what it reveals about a talent that built its own mythology before it had anything to sell.
