NEWS'The Absurd Culture Of Hollywood Celebrity': The Weeknd Reveals Why His Dancers Wore Face Masks During Super Bowl Halftime Show
After months of wondering why The Weeknd sported face bandages, the artist revealed why he wore them ahead of his Super Bowl halftime show performance — and why his dancers sported the look, too.
"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," the 30-year-old told Variety.
"It’s all a progression and we watch the character’s storyline hit heightened levels of danger and absurdity as his tale goes on."
The singer, who was born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, played the halftime show wearing the signature red blazer, black leather gloves and black pants, but unlike his appearance in his "Save Your Tears" music video — where his face was distorted with prosthetics — The Weeknd showed his real face.
He was, however, joined by body-double dancers who wore face bandages similar to those he wore before the release of the eye-catching music video.
"I suppose you could take that being attractive isn’t important to me but a compelling narrative is," he told Variety when asked why he was making his face while promoting his album.
The Weeknd started the album cycle with "Heartless," wearing the signature red blazer. Then, in an After Hours short film, the character continues his bad night in Las Vegas and is seen with a broken nose in bandages. He then continued the story in "Blinding Lights" — right where "Heartless" left off — and donned the first of the bandages. The Weeknd then lost his head in the "In Your Eyes" video, and it was reattached to another mans body in "Too Late" — before the new facial reveal in "Save Your Tears."
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The Weeknd kicked off his performance with “Starboy” and then launched into “The Hills” before he performed “Blinding Lights” with the bandaged dancers.
However, the reviews on social media were less than kind.
"The Weeknd really got bangers but this performance is meh," one user noted.
"The weeknd has good ass music but this half time show is ass. Nobody has had a good half time show since Katy Perry," another said.
However, not everyone was as harsh on the "Call Out My Name" hitmaker.
"I just finished watching Abel's Super Bowl performance, and holy s**t, he's actually going down as one of the greats #TheWeeknd," one fan gushed.
"MAN! THIS WAS THE BEST PERFORMANCE I’VE EVER SEEN #TheWeeknd," another shared.
The Super Bowl performance comes after The Weeknd was snubbed by the Grammys.
"Look, I personally don't care anymore," the artist said, as previously reported by OK!. "It's not like, 'Oh, I want the Grammy!’ It's just that this happened, and I'm down to get in front of the fire, as long as it never happens again.
"I suck at giving speeches anyways. Forget awards shows."
