I've had sleep paralysis.
I'm a huge fan of R. Kelly's. He's a musical genius and probably the most prolific artist of the generation before mine.
It's almost schizophrenic who I portray in my music.
If you ever see young artists, and they're not sounding good, they sound good. They're good singers. They wouldn't be where they are if they didn't sound good. It's their nerves. Any time you see your favorite artist, and he's or she's screwing up or not hitting those notes, it's not because she can't hit it or she can't sing; he or she is scared.
I just kept touring and touring until it became second nature to go onstage, perform, and sing.
I usually don't like to 'spoon feed' my audience, because I grew up idolizing story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same.
I probably could have toured off 'Trilogy' for the rest of my life. It definitely changed the culture. No one can do a trilogy again without thanking The Weeknd.
I wish I could make music about politics. I feel like it's such an art and a talent that I admire tremendously, but when I step into the studio, I step out of the real world, and it's therapeutic.
Going to a therapist is not something you do when you're growing up as a street kid in Toronto.
From when I was born to when I was 21, I never left Toronto. That's why I'm such a city cat.
My mother, my grandmother, my uncles would play Ethiopian artists like Aster Aweke and Mulatu Astatke all the time in the house.
I wanted to drop three albums in a year because no one had done it. It was bold, unheard of.
My inspiration is R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, and Prince - for the vocals, anyway.
My production and songwriting and the environment around those vocals are not inspired by R&B at all.
