The Weeknd, whose true name is Abel Tesfaye, joked on Twitter that he would "pull a YE" and officially abandon his surname in favor of just ABEL."I feel like I should change my stage name to ABEL at this point lol," he commented on April 3.He went on to say in another tweet, "Perhaps I could do a YE and officially change my name to ABEL. There is no surname. Madonna, Cher, and Prince, for example. I don't know, it sounds excessive."

"Pulling a Ye" is a reference to Kanye West's name change. Kanye West's desire to change his legal name from Kanye Omari West to just Ye was granted by a judge in October 2021."ABEL formally known as The Weeknd?" The Weeknd baited .