The Weeknd to guest star on The Simpsons

The Weeknd is lending his voice to an upcoming episode of 'The Simpsons.' The Canadian singer will guest star in the episode 'Bart the Cool Kid,' which also features Michael Rapaport. The episode is set to air on March 20, 2022.

The Weeknd is also set to begin a North American tour in 2022, supporting January's Dawn FM. The artist released a visual version of this performance on Amazon Prime Video at the end of February titled, 'The Weeknd x The Dawn FM Experience.'

The Weeknd has the honor of having the world's biggest single for the second year in a row according to Variety with 'Save Your Tears.' He has won the praise of many and countless awards. However, he has also pushed limits and been involved in several contraversies.

He sang at the Super Bowl of 2021 and had the biggest song of 2020, but he was completely absent from the Grammys of the same year. The Weekend did not get a single nomination for the awards. He blamed it on the Grammys' "secret committees," which make it difficult to determine how nominees are decided upon.

After the nominations were announced, The Weeknd tweeted: "The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency..."

In his indignation, the star even went a step further: "I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys," The Weeknd declared to the New York Times. This means we won't see him in next year's Grammys either.

The Canadian superstar is not the only one boycotting the Grammys: Frank Ocean, Drake, and Kanye West (before his entry this year for best Christian album) have done the same. They assume that race prejudice is at play in the 'secret committees,' because white artists are often favoured over black stars.

The Canadian singer confirmed his star status by joining the ranks of Michael Jackson, Prince, Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez by performing a half-time show for the 55th Super Bowl. As the Grammy controversy shows, however, his career is not without its setbacks. Let's take a look at how The Weeknd made it to the top.

It all started in Toronto, Ontario, on the 16th of February in 1990, when the only child of a Canadian-Ethiopian couple was born. The couple raised their son in Scarborough, a multicultural neighborhood in outskirts of Toronto. Growing up in this part of the city undoubtedly influenced Abel Tesfaye, the given name of the performer.

The image of a kind and elegant man that The Weeknd transmits today couldn't be farther from the performer's troubled youth. The Weeknd struggled with addiction from a young age; at just 11 years old, the singer was already using illegal substances. The performer has described his teenage years as "a story similar to KIDS (the controversial movie by Larry Clark) but without AIDS."

The Weeknd's artistic name comes from the star's days as a troubled youth. Specifically, from one fated weekend, when the performer decided to quit school and never return. Have you ever wondered why an "e" is missing from the artist's name? The reason is simple, to avoid legal problems, as there is already another Canadian band called 'The Weekend.'

The Weeknd's artistic career really got up and running at the end of 2010, when the singer uploaded three different songs onto YouTube. They were 'What You Need,' 'Loft Music', and 'The Morning,' and they quickly became popular.

Fellow Canadian Drake was one of the first artists to notice The Weeknd, and he helped out by promoting the singer on his blog. 'Pitchfork' and 'The New York Times' also took notice of the young performer, who at the time was only 21 years old.

Thanks to the publicity he received, The Weeknd released three mixtapes in 2011: 'House of Balloons,' 'Thursday' and 'Echoes of Silence.' The mixtapes helped the artist gain mainstream popularity for his dark R&B style. The tapes, known as the 'Balloons Trilogy,' were available for free and resulted in The Weeknd becoming popular worldwide.

Since 2011 The Weeknd's career has been booming, with the artist releasing a total of five studio albums: 'Kiss Land' (2013), 'Beauty Behind the Madness' (2015), 'Starboy' (2016), 'My Dear Melancholy' (2018) and 'After Hours' (2020).

'The Hills,' released in 2015, was The Weeknd's first single to reach number one on Billboard. It was followed by 'Can't Feel my Face,' 'Heartless' and 'Blinding Lights'. The latter was his record-breaking song: the most listened to in 2020 and one of the best performing pieces of the 21st century.

It is probably thanks to the Canadian's hit 'Blinding Lights' that the singer was selected to perform at the Super Bowl. The Weeknd has been inspired by many legendary artists, including Prince, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, 50 Cent, Eminem, and Talking Heads. When listening to his music, you can really tell that the artist incorporates different styles, from R&B to punk and alternative rock.

In just the last decade, The Weeknd has received many awards for his music, including 3 Grammy Awards, 9 Billboard Music Awards, 2 American Music Awards, 9 Juno Awards, and an Oscar nomination for Best Song.

In 2017 The Weeknd made it into the Guinness Book of World Records when 'Beauty Behind the Madness' broke records as the most-streamed song on Spotify in 2016. He also became the first to stay on the Top 10 of the Top 100 Billboard for 45 weeks straight, thanks to hits such as 'Earned It,' 'Can't Feel my Face,' and 'The Hills.' That's almost eleven months on the Top 10 list!

Despite his fame, The Weeknd hasn't been without controversy. In January of 2015, the star got in trouble for hitting his agent while in Las Vegas. The performer admitted to his mistake and fulfilled the punishment of 50 hours of community service for his actions.

Regarding his personal life, The Weeknd has had relationships with some of the most popular women in the world. At the beginning of 2015, the singer and model Bella Hadid started dating.

They were one of the most popular star couples until November 2016, when they broke up. The reason? Their busy schedules. Bella and Abel still claimed to be in love; they just didn't have the time to dedicate to the relationship. In May 2018, they got back together again, but by August 2019, they broke up once more for the same reasons. This time it was permanent.

In between his time with Bella, in 2017, The Weeknd dated Selena Gómez. The pair lasted nearly a year together.

During his first years of fame, The Weeknd stood out with a unique hairstyle inspired by the legendary artist Jean Michel Basquiat.

By 2016 the star opted for a change and appeared in his 'Starboy' video clip with a new hairstyle. The performer wanted to leave behind his past and start fresh.

Speaking of changing his appearance, The Weeknd shocked the public with his appearance at the 2020 AMA's. The star appeared with his face covered in bandages, causing fans to think that he had undergone plastic surgery at just 31 years of age. Luckily, it was all a farce.

In January 2021, the star shocked quite a few fans with this photo on his Instagram account. Had he really undergone such far-reaching plastic surgery?

As it turned out, The Weeknd's amazing look was made of prosthetics for his new video 'Save Your Tears.' It was not real.

The Weeknd has also awoken the public's curiosity by using the pseudonym 'XO' on Twitter. 'XO' is usually associated with "kiss & hug", but the press, such as 'VH1', 'GQ,' and 'The Torch,' claim that it symbolizes ecstasy and oxytocin.