He did have lots of body doubles to support.
The Weeknd and his field of connected twins gave a cash performance at the 2021 Super Bowl halftime show. But did the 30-year-old “Blinding Lights” singer get real money for the performance?
Representatives for show sponsor Pepsi and The Weeknd both declined to say whether he was bringing in the big bucks for his much-watched stadium performance.
But the likely answer is no.
Every Super Bowl halftime performer, from Beyoncé to Bruno Mars, has essentially worked for free. Despite sold-out stadiums on world tours, most A-listers are reportedly given a “union scale” during halftime, which, according to Forbes, is “a fraction of the six- and seven-figure sums” they bring in.
It’s usually worth the underpaid labor for these stars, as they can get as many as 104 million sets of eyeballs on it at no cost to them. It usually leads to a big spike in sales and streams.
Last year’s halftime performers, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, together sold 21,000 song downloads – an 893% increase from the previous day, according to Billboard.
But unlike halftime show performers from the past, The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, actually went into the red to make his performance particularly spectacular.
“Abel has spent nearly $ 7 million of his own money outside the already generous budgets to make this halftime show what he envisioned,” a representative for the star told The Post.
In a press conference prior to the big show, he even hinted at the financial constraints of going fast and said he would have liked to do a dramatic stunt like Diana Ross did in 1996 – when she left the stadium in a helicopter – but “I don’t think I have enough money to do it. “
Still, the exposure can be invaluable.
The Weeknd refers to the milestone in his career in a commercial prior to the big performance. In the ad, he walks through a montage of music videos from the past played on the wall, while a reflective voiceover narrates the journey that leads to the Super Bowl field, where a cheering stadium awaits him.
“What we create changes us. Each performance, a new chapter; every phase, a new beginning, ”says a voice-over.
But it may take a while for The Weeknd to see the fruits of his Super Bowl labor, money-wise. He announced last week that he would extend his world tour for another year until 2022.