The Weeknd is finally standing for the music after shocking audiences with his ever-changing face.
Fans have been questioning the singer’s look for over a year, as he has seen sporting variations of a bloody and bruised face for his album “After Hours,” long before his much-hyped Super Bowl 2021 halftime performance.
But the singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, warned from the start that it was a persona he created for the fourth studio album.
“It also portrays a very dedicated vision and character, and I can discover another side of me that my fans have never seen,” he revealed in an interview for CR Fashion Book in March 2020. He just turned 30 – his birthday is February 16 – he had said the album in its entirety served as an “introduction to the next chapter of my life.”
However, in the hours leading up to his Big Game Day performance – The Weeknd, it really broke through: “The meaning of the whole main bandage reflects the absurd culture of Hollywood celebrities and people manipulate themselves for superficial reasons to please and be validated. , “He explained to Variety.” It’s all progress and we see how The Character’s storyline reaches heightened levels of danger and absurdity as his story progresses. “
The face saga began in the “Heartless” video, which was released in December 2019, when his character in a red suit is having a wild night out in Las Vegas. But things take a dark turn in “Blinding Lights,” his second single, which picks up where “Heartless” left off. It is also the first time that he debuted with the illegible face that fans have been concerned about.
But those who thought The Weeknd’s terrifying performance art would be a one-off statement turned out to be completely wrong. Here’s a timeline of The Weeknd’s turnaround.
January 2020: video “Blinding Lights”
The video “Blinding Lights,” which debuted in January, was the first of many shock-and-awe occasions for the singer.
He wears what would become his new signature uniform – a red suit over a black buttoned shirt – his face appears bloody after a fall and an altercation staged in the video. He replicated the look for a performance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” later in January.
At the time, fans had no idea of this macabre personality. But the singer later explained the song’s dark meaning to Esquire in August: “‘Blinding Lights’ [is about] how you want to see someone at night, and you’re drunk, and you drive to this person and you’re just blinded by street lights. But nothing could stop you from visiting that person because you are so lonely. I never want to promote drunk driving, but that’s the dark undertone. “
March 2020: film “After Hours”, video “SNL” and “In Your Eyes”
Ultimately, The Weeknd explained that this was a recurring character in all of the videos for “After Hours,” including the short.
“This character is having a really bad night – all these videos are set in one night – and you can come up with your own videos [sic] interpretation of what it is, ”he told Variety.
“[In the ‘After Hours’ short film,] We’ve put this man through a complete breakdown, which looks like a possession – I’m being dragged through the subway by an invisible force. Is it possessed or is it just broken? “
While The Weeknd debuted his new song “Scared To Live” on “Saturday Night Live,” it was the first time fans had actually seen his new “look” – a bloody face with a bandage across his nose. But scratching his head, also seen singing ‘Blinding Lights’, was exclusive to his musical performances, and he chose to dump the blood while acting in sketches.
However, he wore the getup during rehearsals for ‘SNL’. “I forget that sometimes I have it on,” he said of his make-up.
He followed up his “SNL” concert with a video for “In Your Eyes” (with Kenny G), which initially included a warning with graphic material.
April 2020: video “Until I Bleed Out”
The Weeknd continued to inhabit the blood-stained character while holding his troubling persona in yet another music video, in the same red suit, and his cuts now showed gruesome bruises – all obtained from crafty makeup.
August 2020: MTV Video Music Awards
While performing atop Hudson Yards, he continued with the gory aesthetic in the prepackaged VMA segment. He also wore the bloody mug while on his way to rehearsals in New York, panicking fans on the sidewalk as he signed autographs.
November 2020: American Music Awards
By the time the AMAs arrived, The Weeknd was going full of mummy, adjusting his shape with bandages and bruising over blood, while receiving several awards and during his performance.
The following week, he began a series of events with Vevo, including live performances of “Faith,” “In Your Eyes,” and “Alone Again” – all of which saw a return of the blood.
January 2021: “Save Your Tears” video
New year, new face? Turns out the blood was just the beginning for The Weeknd, who opted for a ‘plastic surgery’ face for his ‘Save Your Tears’ video. “But then you saw me, surprised you,” he sang, shocking fans with what looked like a thinner nose, cheek implants, plump lips and surgical scars.
While the look was achieved through prosthetics or CGI, he has previously worked with makeup effect studio Prosthetic Renaissance, who posted about the transformation on social media.
Fans speculated that the swollen face was a dig at his ex, 24-year-old Bella Hadid, while others thought it was a metaphor for rejecting the Grammy Awards, for which he received no nominations this year.
But shortly after the video made the rounds on social media and confused fans, The Weeknd reminded us of his regular face in a Super Bowl ad.
February 2021: back to normal?
For The Weeknd it’s all about ‘The Character’.
While promoting the Super Bowl in commercials, the singer showed off his real face and seemingly picked up one that fans couldn’t stop talking about.
He even told his fans that ‘being attractive isn’t important to me, but a compelling story is’, in his revealing Variety interview – and also explained why he was going back and forth between himself and ‘The Character’, as he put it. called. .
“Why don’t you play with the character and the artist and let those lines blur and move?”