Two years ago, HBO’s “The Idol” met with brutal reviews from critics. IndieWire’s own Ben Travers wrote of the pilot, “Typically, when there’s less to say about a new show once you’ve seen it than before it premiered, that’s a bad sign.” And the series gained notoriety before it ever premiered. The long and chaotic history of its first and only season saw several highly-publicized behind-the-scenes shake-ups and extensive reshoots after a reported change in creative direction.
Star Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, whose “Hurry Up Tomorrow” hit theaters May 16, says he now understands the reception “The Idol” received, admitting that, “It makes a lot of sense.”
“I think it got to a point where everyone was trying to get to the finish line,” Tesfaye told The Guardian of the long production. “You can’t force something, you’ve just got to let it be whatever it is, even if it’s half-baked.”
He said he believes when people go against their instincts, “it can be blasphemous.”
“With ‘Idol,’ our instincts were ‘This isn’t right,’ but we wanted it to work,” Tesfaye related, but added there were “too many cooks in the kitchen.”
“The Idol” production’s stresses were complicated by a loaded schedule for Tesfaye, who was also on an international tour at the time.
“There was a lot of self-imposed pressure: flying to L.A. between concerts, getting into character, shooting, and then flying back for the next show,” he told Variety in January.
After the controversy surrounding “The Idol,” Tesfaye said he was labeled “difficult,” which he explained is “the worst thing you can be called in Hollywood.” He said, though, none of the criticism against the series felt personal.
“Of course, it gets to you — I’m not saying I wasn’t affected by it; I’m saying I didn’t take it personally,” Tesfaye said in The Guardian interview. “Like, nobody’s out to get you, you know? I love reading criticism, even if some of it didn’t feel constructive. I’m not expecting everybody to love ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ either. Some people might hate it, but that’s not why I’m doing this. I’m doing it because I’m an artist; it’s how I feel, and this is what I want to say.”
The reaction to “The Idol” did cause Tesfaye to pause, which did help inspire the film “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” as well as the album of the same name released earlier this year.
“I knew that I really needed to sit the fuck down and figure out my life,” he told Variety. “To understand what happened, face it, learn something new and start again. I’d had a kind of a mental breakdown.”
