The Weeknd

"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."

"Let's be honest. Canada wasn't ever cool."

"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."

"Once you've changed who you are or who you've portrayed in your music, the fans, they'll catch it... Once I feel like the world knows me for anything else but my music, then I feel like I failed."

"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."

"The Joker is my favorite villain of all time: You don't know his past; you just know what his plans are."

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

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

"When you're traveling constantly, every day you become inspired, and it shows in my work, sonically, lyrically, visually. Conversations with women with different accents and stories told in those accents. I like to create characters based on different people I've met, and relationships. I like to tell stories loosely based on real-life events."