Weeknd reached the Super Bowl LV break on Sunday night for a lackluster performance.
In addition to an underwhelming show, the Grammy-winning artist made headlines with his closing song “Blinding Lights”, during which dozens of dancers lined up on the football field with their faces full of bandages.
Canadian hitmaker 30, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, previously told Variery about the meaning behind the bandages.
“The meaning of all the bandages on the head is reflected in the absurd culture of Hollywood celebrities and in people who manipulate themselves for superficial reasons to please and be validated,” The Weeknd told Variety. “It’s all a progression and we see the character’s storyline reaching high levels of danger and absurdity as his story continues.”
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The artist has been wearing bandages and prosthetic makeup since last year, while promoting his new album, “After Hours”.
“I suppose you can understand that being attractive is not important to me, but a compelling narrative is,” he admitted to the channel.
The Weeknd previously appeared at the 2020 AMAs in Novemebr with a bloody, bandaged fake face.
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In fact, he has appeared in public with fake injuries since August, when he accepted awards at the MTV Video Music Awards with a similar appearance.
According to Yahoo Music, the bandages are part of a kind of performance method for the artist, whose VMA-winning music video for the hit “Blinding Lights” shows him being beaten by security guards and then injured while driving in a drunken accident.
Weeknd performs during the NFL Super Bowl 55 halftime show between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, February 7, 2021, in Tampa, Florida.
(AP Photo / Ashley Landis)
The track belongs to the album “After Hours”, which Weeknd explained to GQ as a concept album from the perspective of a “character going crazy in Vegas”.
In addition to getting bloody in the “Blinding Lights” video, he also debuted his blood-colored alter ego in “Heartless”, the album’s first music video in September 2019. All subsequent videos on the album shared a similar theme.
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On Sunday night, The Weeknd’s 14-minute show also featured their hit singles “Starboy”, “Earned It”, “Can’t Feel My Face”, “The Hills” and “I Feel It Coming”.
Tyler McCarthy of Fox News contributed to this report.