Where’s all the blood and carnage?
The Weeknd decided to play it safe on one of pop culture’s biggest stages during his Super Bowl 2021 appearance on Sunday.
The versatile 30-year-old decided that his own face was good enough for his big, live – definitely-not-pre-recorded – performance, instead of the odd prosthetics and makeup he put on during the release of his latest album. used to be.
Supported by a chorus of gospel singers, the “Starboy” singer began his performance with pacing through a series of labyrinths below the stage. When it came to his 2015 hit ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’, dozens of look-alikes danced around him in connection. At least she took a gamble with something strange.
Later, the entire field was filled with the masked backups as he sang his TikTok-famous dance jam, “Blinded by the Light.”
During his sultry ’50 Shades of Gray ‘anthem’ Earned It ‘, the stage lit up his signature porn style – complemented by a sexy camera wink. However, that’s about the most dramatic thing that happened to the singer’s ever-changing face during halftime.
Still, The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, wore his signature red suit, a tribute to his “ transformation, ” said the suit’s mastermind, Richfresh designer Patrick Henry. His glittering halftime suit, with mother-of-pearl buttons, was otherwise kept simple. “Everything is made to look really good when standing still, but he can still move because Abel likes to move.”
In the year since he released his fourth studio album ‘After Hours’, he has released more extreme versions of what he has called ‘The Character’. It all started with a bloody face at the end of “Blinding Lights” in January 2020, but escalated to messier blood for his short “After Hours” which followed in March.
Between April and August, his “character” was even more battered, with gruesome bruises next to blood and bandages. In November, The Weeknd covered his face completely with gauze for the American Music Awards.
He followed up the gory face with a completely new ‘plastic surgery’ look – achieved through prosthetics – for ‘Save Your Tears’ in January.
However, in Super Bowl commercials, the singer relied on his real-life face, seemingly dropping the picked-up persona that fans couldn’t talk about. But he did take the time to explain the whole thing prior to the big game to those who had been confused for months.
“The meaning of the whole headband is to reflect on the absurd culture of Hollywood celebrities and people who manipulate themselves for superficial reasons to please and be validated,” he explained to Variety. “It’s all progress and we see The Character’s storyline reach heightened levels of danger and absurdity as his story progresses.”
He added that fans can “assume that being attractive isn’t important to me, but a compelling story is,” and even explained why he was going back and forth between himself and “The Character,” as he called it.
“Why don’t you play with the character and the artist and let those lines blur and move?”