The Weeknd has opened up about his battle with anxiety after being asked about his mental health.
The Toronto superstar got candid about his journey in a new conversation with Billboard Brazil published on Friday (September 6).
“It’s funny you should mention this [mental health],” he said. “I just had a panic attack right before this interview. My anxiety is a constant battle, and I feel like it never goes away. I’m learning to control it, but I’ve already realized that it’s part of my life. I can’t escape it.”
Despite his struggles, The Weeknd is still so grateful for his life and recently reflected on how far he’s come as he interviewed a younger version of himself generated by artificial intelligence.
In a collaboration with fashion brand SSENSE that launched in June, the singer chatted with a 10-year-old replica of himself.
After his AI likeness revealed that he liked listening to music and singing, he asked The Weeknd how his life was treating him.
The adult, living version of Tesfaye said, “You have a lot to look forward to,” before asking: “How is your relationship with God?”
The kid responded: “God is like my super cool friend who’s always there, you know?”
After the AI version of The Weeknd revealed that his super power is creating worlds in his head, he asked the 34-year-old singer what his super power is.
“Probably being focused,” Tesfaye replied. “And a new power is my patience.”
The project is the result of “reconfiguring his body with Harmony Korine’s EDGLRD and uploading his former self to an OpenAI GPT,” according to the article.
Earlier this summer, The Weeknd shared a social media post that had fans speculating about the “end” of his career.
The singer took to his Instagram Story where he quoted a fan page’s tweet about his live performance of his blockbuster single “Save Your Tears” at the 2021 Billboard Awards. The TV hit saw him walking along a road while singing as rows of cars came up behind him, parting ways right before they hit him.
“There was a lot of trust with those cars,” read the quote. “He didn’t seem nervous at all, which really weirded us out, because these cars were just barreling by him and he was calm, kept his composure, walked slow and just didn’t look back. It was kind of amazing.”
The Instagram Story post included a static shot from the performance as well as the statement, “the end is near.”
