Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters took aim at The Weeknd and Drake in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail.
The comment came after the 78-year-old expressed frustration over The Weeknd’s concert receiving more media coverage than his.
The Weeknd was set to kick off his After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour in Toronto on July 8. It just so happened that one of Waters’ shows for his This is Not a Drill tour landed on the same night.
Waters claimed to be “far, far more important” than both Canadian stars and said it “seemed off” that The Weeknd’s concert received more attention from Toronto publications despite it getting cancelled due to the widespread Rogers outage.
“I have no idea what or who The Weeknd is because I don’t listen to much music,” said the rock legend in the interview. “People have told me he’s a big act. Well, good luck to him. I’ve got nothing against him.”
The former Pink Floyd bassist and singer went on to name-drop another iconic Canadian artist: Drake.
“And, by the way, with all due respect to The Weeknd or Drake or any of them,” said Waters. “I am far, far, far more important than any of them will ever be, however many billions of streams they’ve got. There is stuff going on here that is fundamentally important to all of our lives.”
Despite what Rogers says, music enthusiasts may argue streams speak to the influence an artist has. Drake has tallied 11 No.1 Billboard Hot 100 hits, four Grammys, and has racked up a monthly Spotify listenership of 67,485,161. The Weeknd has the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 Song of All Time, four Grammys, and has garnered a monthly Spotify listenership of 75, 529, 268.
In comparison, Waters has achieved one UK Number 1 single, six UK Number 1 albums, and one Grammy with his former band Pink Floyd. As a solo artist, Waters has a monthly Spotify listenership of 550,206, while Pink Floyd has 15,452,665.