Though four-time Grammy award winner Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye might be best known for his swoon-worthy singing voice, lately Tesfaye has been posting more about his video game career than his singing one. According to Polygon, the latest game Tesfaye’s been working through is the certified 10/10 masterpiece Persona 5 Royal. But while he might be around 92 hours in, apparently he still has a lot to learn. Most notably, that you need to indicate that you’d like to pursue a romance with your in-game love interest during their Rank 9 event.
Tesfaye took to his alternate Instagram account to lament this fact, sharing an image of a Google search result stating, “You cannot initiate a romance with Takemi after you have already reached Rank 10 if you did not choose the romance options during Rank 9.” Presumably, this means Tesafaye searched if he had missed his shot with Persona 5’s “hot goth doctor.” And, if he in fact did reach Rank 10 without having a steamy conversation with Tae, he did. Sorry, Tesfaye!
The Weeknd posts about not romancing Takemi in Persona 5 Royal via his alt account, gene.hackerman IG story. This comes after multiple comments from Persona fans on the fact that he didn’t romance her pic.twitter.com/BJPFHbf44j
— 𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙾 𝙼𝙾𝚁𝙸 𝚇𝙾💀 (@MementoMoriXO) April 29, 2026
Shortly after sharing the above post, Tesfaye followed it up with this funny, albeit graphic, image. Naturally, fans have taken to X to fire off a lot of incredible memes and jokes about the ordeal.
Upon starting Persona 5 Royal, an image of Tae Takemi was among one of the first Tesfaye shared on Instagram. Earlier today, he posted a darkened photo of Takemi’s office, which we can only assume is to indicate he is currently mourning his missed connection. We get it. Though Tae might be the second most-problematic love interest in Persona 5–which is an impressive feat, considering she’s an unlicensed, adult doctor who both experiments on and pursues a relationship with a teenager–she is a total baddie. Sadayo Kawakami, however… Well, I’m still watching you.
Over the past few months, Tesfaye has posted several photos celebrating his love of video gaming, including pictures with Nier creator Yoko Taro and others of his visit to Capcom headquarters. Fans and news outlets aren’t the only ones who have taken notice of Tesfaye’s love of video games. Earlier this month, Atlus shared a special thank you message to Tesfaye from two of Persona 5’s key developers, Shingenori Soejima and Kazuhisa Wada.
