The Weeknd worried it would be "insensitive" to release his new album now.
The Weeknd
The 30-year-old actor contemplated pushing back the release of 'After Hours' due to the coronavirus pandemic but ultimately felt he was offering fans a way to "escape our reality" for a brief period of time.
Asked what it's like to release and promote an album in such challenging circumstances, he told Billboard: "It's very bizarre. At first, I felt like it might have been insensitive to release it, but to my fans I felt like I would have been doing a disservice to push it back.
"Hopefully it can help some people escape our reality, if only for an hour out of their day, while we all work hard to get through this together."
The album has already made a big splash and the 'Blinding Lights' singer has become the first artist to top the Billboard 200, Hot 100, Artist 100, Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts simultaneously and he thinks it's a "huge blessing" for the record to have done so well.
He said: "It feels like a huge blessing. As artists, being recognised for what we do is the ultimate validation.
"I share this honour with my team and my fans who have been tirelessly supporting me."
One of the biggest influences on the 'Can't Feel My Face' hitmaker's music is the sounds of the 1980s.
He said: "I've always had an admiration for the era before I was born. You can hear it as far back as my first mixtape [2011's 'House of Balloons'] that the '80s -- Siouxsie & the Banshees, Cocteau Twins -- play such a huge role in my sound.
"Sometimes it helps me create a new sound and sometimes it's just obvious. I'm just glad the world's into it now."
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