Top 55 The Weeknd Quotes

All I do is make music.

I’m all about evolution. I’m the first person to judge myself.

Bragging just sounds good, man.

Taylor Swift’s audience can listen to me, but so can the street kids. I want to touch it all.

The game is changing with songs like ‘Earned It’ as opposed to it changing me.

For my generation, the bomber jacket is like a replacement for the suit jacket. It’s a piece that men wear every day, and it’s something that I would wear for any occasion, whether it’s on the street or going to an awards ceremony.

In the beginning, I was very insecure. I hated how I looked in pictures.

Let’s be honest. Canada wasn’t ever cool.

I feel like the way I was raised was to be able to see through all the titles in this world – from religion to race.

‘House of Balloons’ was actually supposed to have more songs than it does.

Going to a therapist is not something you do when you’re growing up as a street kid in Toronto.

I make good music for long journeys.

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.

I’ve grown accustomed to hotels and drastic climate change.

I’m trying to get to Mars before everyone else.

The last thing you want is to not be recognized for all of the hard work you put in.

‘Thursday’ is a conceptual album. Whatever that situation was, I spent the whole album focusing on that situation.

Image, lyrics, content, storytelling, cohesive body of work – that’s Prince to me.

‘Kiss Land’ is the story after ‘Trilogy’; it’s pretty much the second chapter of my life. The narrative takes place after my first flight; it’s very foreign, very Asian-inspired. When people ask me, ‘Why Japan?’ I simply tell them it’s the furthest I’ve ever been from home. It really is a different planet.

The effect of music on fashion has been immense, especially hip-hop and urban music.

I sang a lot of low stuff on songs like ‘Secrets’ and ‘Rockin’,’ almost like Toni Braxton. On ‘Secrets,’ I’m a different person.

I mean… in life… what relationship is easy?

I feel like I’m the kind of guy that would have kids before getting married. The first thing would be kids.

I just love Bowie. I think he’s the ultimate inventor.

I was everything an R&B singer wasn’t. I wasn’t in shape. I wasn’t a pretty boy.

Prince turned experimental music into pop music. ‘When Doves Cry,’ the whole ‘Purple Rain’ soundtrack – he was inspired by the Cocteau Twins and new wave pop and brought it into R&B when he first started, and then it became this cool, next-level, kind of hard-to-digest music. Which is what I felt ‘House of Balloons’ was.

From when I was born to when I was 21, I never left Toronto. That’s why I’m such a city cat.

OVOXO will always be there.

My purpose is to make exciting music, and I feel like I’ll be doing that for the rest of my life, so there’s no pressure.

I have a good team. It’s good to have a good team.

The Internet, man, is a beautiful thing.

I get naturally uncomfortable when I’m put under a magnifying glass.

I’m the most boring person to talk to.

When I was making the early stuff, I never expected it to be so big. I was in my own kind of bubble. I never wanted to tour; I just wanted to create music and make a diary I could put out into the world. And sometimes, I became the characters.

My inspiration is R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, and Prince – for the vocals, anyway.

I don’t think I’d ever apologise for music I make, no.

I didn’t have a father figure in the house.

When I was born, that was the music my mother was listening to. Michael Jackson is a third parent to me.

I think that’s why my career is going to be so long: Because I haven’t given people everything.

A chorus is not easy.

When I write, I write about my surroundings. Sometimes it’s light, and sometimes it gets very dark.

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.

‘House of Balloons’ was special because I had no deadlines, and nobody knew me, so there were no expectations. Spent a year making it perfect. Every song had at least, like, 7 different versions to them before picking the right one.

My production and songwriting and the environment around those vocals are not inspired by R&B at all.

I was very camera shy. People like hot girls, so I put my music to hot girls and it just became a trend. The whole ‘enigmatic artist’ thing, I just ran with it. No one could find pictures of me.

I want to make pop cool again, and the only way I can do that is by being ambitious and grand.

I just kept touring and touring until it became second nature to go onstage, perform, and sing.

I love trying new things.

When people meet me, they say that I’m really kind – contrary to a lot of my music.

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 didn’t like the way I looked in pictures – when I saw myself on a digital camera, I was like, ‘Eesh.’

I wrote a song with Ed Sheeran that was kind of spontaneous.

Environment is very important to me. Sometimes I have to perform during the day for festivals, and my music does not work in the daytime. It is nighttime music.

For an Ethiopian mother, if you have a chubby kid, it means you’re doing something good.

People always say when they meet me that I’m not what they expect. I assume they think I’m this super dark and depressing guy, but I like to channel all of those emotions into my work.