The Weeknd Performs at Super Bowl 55 Halftime Show
Super Bowl weekend reached its highlight on Sunday with a concert from, none other than The Weeknd himself.
The Canadian-born musician, known as Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, took the stage at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium to headline the Super Bowl 55 halftime show.The first Canadian to ever perform at the Super Bowl and that too solo calling it “Solo Act” on his official Twitter account a few days before the event .
His playlist included several of his biggest hits, including “Starboy,” “The Hills, “Can’t Feel My Face,” “I Feel It Coming” and, of course, “Blinding Lights.” And he had some Super-sized shoes to fill. Recent memorable halftime performers have included Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Beyonce and Madonna.
That said, The Weeknd being selected to perform this year’s Super Bowl halftime show came as no surprise. His career has been at a high since he officially debuted in 2010, gathering three Grammy Awards and an Oscar nomination, among other impressive accolades.
However, for a few months last year, every time the Weeknd appeared in public he was wearing face bandages as part of a “character” he was playing that was associated with his latest album After Hours.
Over the past few weeks, the internet has been bursting of babble, memes and confusion, with many fans wondering what the bandages mean, and whether he will continue the theme at the Super Bowl. What’s going on?
The Weeknd answered a few questions when put forth by @Variety to him on his bandaged look at the Super Bowl.
Your “After Hours” character has been increasingly more bandaged, with an entire head bandage at AMAs, and is now evidently post-plastic surgery. People have been speculating about this for weeks — what does it symbolize or mean?
The significance of the entire head bandages is reflecting on the absurd culture of Hollywood celebrity and people manipulating themselves for superficial reasons to please and be validated.
Can you give any insight into how the bandages fit into the original “bad night in Las Vegas” storyline?
It’s all a progression and we watch The Character’s storyline hit heightened levels of danger and absurdity as his tale goes on.
What can we take from the fact that you seem to be intentionally making your face increasingly unattractive while promoting your biggest album?
I suppose you could take that being attractive isn’t important to me but a compelling narrative is.
Sometimes you appear in photos or on TV and videos in character, sometimes not. Why?
Why not play with the character and the artist and let those lines blur and move around?
Are you in character now?
I don’t know, I’d have to ask him.
What do you think of the message he was trying to portray?
Credits: Variety
