Mike Dean has had more than his share of career accomplishments, but one of the biggest in recent years was opening up for The Weeknd on his North American tour.
Dean sat down for a conversation with Our Generation Music on Thursday (February 22). There, he revealed what it was like to open for the “I Can’t Feel My Face” singer.
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“I opened up for him on the U.S. tour last summer,” he explained. “That came about during a livestream. I was doing a little livestream on Instagram, and Abel was tuned in. And he texted me during the livestream, like, ‘You should just open for me.'”
He continued: “I get to go out, have a budget, get production, and make shit look cool.”
The comments about The Weeknd begin at the 5:00 minute mark.
Back in April, The Weeknd teamed up with Mike Dean on four new tracks that appeared on the producer’s latest, 4:23.
Released on April 29, Dean’s new project — which is co-executive produced by the Canadian crooner — marks his first project since 2020’s 4:22.
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The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) appears on four tracks: “Artificial Intelligence.” “Defame Moi”, “More Coke!!” and “Emotionless” (which he also co-wrote).
The Weeknd and Dean have collaborated on a number of projects, including the singer’s 2015 album Beauty Behind the Madness and “Where You Belong,” which was written for the Fifty Shades Of Grey soundtrack.
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Most recently, Dean and The Weeknd collaborated on “Double Fantasy,” a Future-led track lifted from the HBO series The Idol, in which both musicians appear.
Besides The Weeknd, Dean has produced music for Beyoncé, Chloe Bailey, Drake, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and JAY-Z. His career took off in the 1990s while working at Rap-A-Lot Records.
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In addition to the aforementioned names, he’s also worked with Scarface, Tha Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg, Tech N9ne, UGK, Outlawz, and 2Pac.
More recently, The Weeknd made history when “Blinding Lights” broke yet another streaming record, becoming the first track on Spotify to reach 4 billion streams.
“I’ll never stop being humbled by anything I create making its way to millions of people let alone billions!” The Weeknd wrote in a statement. “I’m so thankful this song makes people feel a way that they keep going back to listen.”
This latest Spotify accolade wasn’t it for Abel. The Canadian superstar broke his own record for monthly listeners on the platform, which has now ballooned to over 113 million fans.
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“He is the real new king of pop, the only one that could top MJ,” a fan wrote under Spotify’s Instagram post celebrating The Weeknd’s latest accomplishment.
