Slang dictionary
starboy
[stahr-boi]
What does聽starboy mean?
Popularized by Canadian recording artist The Weeknd, a聽蝉迟补谤产辞测听is like a rockstar. The term can refer to a very famous man, the leading member of a group or team,听or a male object of someone’s affection.
Related terms:
Where does starboy come from?
Starboy is said to originate as Jamaican slang dating to at least the 1970s. This sense equates starboy with other “hotshot” or “badass” words of the era like聽pimp 辞谤听cool cat鈥攕omeone who’s hip and popular.
The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) apparently picked up starboy from his neighborhood in Toronto, which has a large Jamaican population familiar with the term which can also be seen in Jamaican popular music, such as reggae artist Mavado’s “Star Bwoy” from 2010.
The Weeknd also gave starboy its shining moment thanks to his November, 2016 album聽Starboy and its title track featuring Daft Punk, which went to #1 on the Billboard charts.
The lyrics of 聽“Starboy” portray a聽蝉迟补谤产辞测听as a celebrity who’s recently exploded into fame and doesn’t quite know how to handle it yet. In the song, The Weeknd compares his former self with his new one in a mix of pride and astonishment,听seeing who he has become, a starboy, as a kind of alter-ego: “Look what you’ve done /聽I’m a motherfuckin’ starboy.”
The Weeknd has said that he was also inspired by David Bowie’s 1972 “Starman” when writing “Starboy,” and the theme of both songs is indeed the same: a newly famous person confronting their former self.
Though The Weeknd propelled the term聽starboy聽into the mainstream, Nigerian recording artist Wizkid (Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun) created a record label in 2013 called “Starboy Records.” Wizkid has been known by the nickname聽Starboy since then. This earlier use of the term has complicated The Weeknd’s attempts to claim聽starboy as his legal trademark since the 2016 album release.
Examples of starboy
Who uses starboy?
Starboy聽sees some use to affectionately refer to the male star of a sports team or a musical group,听脿 la rockstar.聽Because of its boy,听蝉迟补谤产辞测听may also used to belittle a famous person.
Look at our starboy featuring in the Statesman (Delhi and Kolkata ) So proud to see him achieve greater heights by the day !
Representing the one and only Desihoppers crew India !
Have you read the article yet ?鈥� DesiHoppers (@OffDesiHoppers)
his eyes hold all the beautiful stars in this universe. my little starboy
鈥� pinned, moved accs! (@softlykwon)
Chelsea winning comfortably without their Belgian nsofor.. The players they call deadwood whenever their starboy has a bad game have proven they can do it without him
鈥� BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM (@BOOOMBGUY)
The Weeknd and Wizkid, though, dominate references to聽starboy. Each are referred to by the nickname, sometimes with ironic contention.
She’s back with our fav hometown starboy. Stream the new album feat
鈥� Toronto Public Library (@torontolibrary)
is one of the best to ever do it. Tonight, he proved why he鈥檚 legend in his own right. Today Africans were proud to be African. Not 鈥榤ixed鈥� with something less 鈥榝resh鈥� but unapologetically African. Congratulations 馃嵕You did that & we馃憦馃徑馃憦馃徑you!
鈥� Toyin (@ToyinReports)
The difference between wizkid and the weekend is that one is starboy by album and the other is the star boy of a Continent. Goodnight
鈥� OLABODE (@BodeWrites)
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of starboy like most terms we define on 亚洲网紅露点, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of starboy that will help our users expand their word mastery.