The Weeknd was ''angry'' when Usher's song 'Climax' came out because he felt he copied his style.

The 'Starboy' hitmaker claims that the 2012 R&B song was too similar to his mixtape 'House of Balloons', which was released the year before, but admitted he later learned that it's not a bad thing for someone to take influence from his work, and he ended up finding it ''very flattering''.

In an interview with Variety, the Canadian singer - whose real name is Abel Tesfaye - said: '''House of Balloons' literally changed the sound of pop music before my eyes.

''I heard 'Climax,' that Usher song, and was like, 'Holy f***, that's a Weeknd song.'''

He added: ''It was very flattering.

''I knew I was doing something right, but I also got angry. But the older I got, I realised it's a good thing.''

The 'Blinding Lights' hitmaker's manager, Wassim Slaiby, added how it took his ''small team'' a lot of hard work and determination to get The Weeknd's career off the ground, and hailed his client for starting a ''whole new R&B wave''.

He told the publication: ''People saw the rise, but have no idea how hard Abel and our small team worked for years before we got the recognition. ''Abel created this whole new R&B wave everyone is on now.''

Although The Weeknd felt 'Climax' was like his music, the producer of the track, Diplo, previously revealed how it actually started off as a ''minimal techno record with Atlanta strip clubs in mind''.

He said when it came out: ''The production actually started as a house thing with a chord progression that I wrote, but with some time in the studio alone, I was making a sort of 'wildfire' beat out of it.

''The idea of pushing cut-off on a synth used so much in progressive house music but pulling back.

''I was making something like a minimal techno record with Atlanta strip clubs in mind.''