The Weeknd stuns with an epic Halftime Show at Super Bowl LV
The Weeknd made history on Sunday night when he became the first Canadian to ever headline the halftime show as a solo artist. The Scarborough native performed during the 55th Super Bowl on February 7 in Tampa Bay and made his home country proud with his theatrical performance, which included a massive stage packed with a choreographed choir, a field of dancing lookalikes and a set list that covered the past decade of the highly influential artist's discography. In case you were wondering where the extra $7 million of The Weeknd’s own money went that he put into the performance, gauze is much more expensive than we realized.
Performing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ hometown crowd, who witnessed their team win their second Super Bowl with a score of 31 to 9 over the Kansas City Chiefs, The Weeknd bucked the tradition of including surprise guests and carried the iconic halftime spot on his own. The Canadian singer, real name Abel Tesfaye, opened his performance at the Raymond James Stadium seated in a red convertible with a Las Vegas themed backdrop as a nod to his 2020 “Heartless” video. The singer was joined by a floating angelic figure before making his way to the top of a multi-level stage that was designed to look like a cityscape. Paying homage to frequent collaborators Daft Punk, The Weeknd kicked off the performance with his 2016 single “Starboy” while choir members wore robotic masks as a nod to the French musical duo.
Showing off his trademark Michael Jackson-inspired dance moves, The Weeknd grooved in his red sequined sports coat and black wingtips before launching into his 2015 track “The Hills” from Beauty Behind The Madness. The Weeknd stuck with the diamond-certified record, next performing his massive hit “Can’t Feel My Face” while giving viewers whiplash as he raced through a hall of mirrors.
The singer was then joined by an ensemble of look-alikes who sported the same face bandages The Weeknd has donned in music videos and award show performances from his 2020 After Hours era, starting with “Heartless” and concluding with his latest release for “Save Your Tears,” which shows the singer removing his bandages to debut a newly reconstructed face.
Returning to the top of the city scape stage, which was dotted with words like ‘young,' 'enough,' 'long' and 'touch,’ likely as a nod to the singer’s recent comments on Hollywood’s pressure for physical perfection, The Weeknd hopped between singles like “I Feel It Coming,” “Save Your Tears” and “Earned It.” Each performance was accented by intricate fireworks displays and backup performers who played the violin and executed clean and sharp choreographed movements.
To finish off the impressive set, The Weeknd made his way to the field where dozens of dancers in red coats and bandages encircled the singer while performing footwork choreographed by Charm La’Donna, who previously worked with The Weeknd in 2016 for his Oscars performance. A nod to fans who have been with the Canadian singer since the beginning of his career, The Weeknd sang a handful of lines from “House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls” before transitioning to his latest hit “Blinded By The Light,” giving viewers the ultimate ‘how it started/how it’s going’ viral moment.
Fans were excited to see The Weeknd perform during the biggest night in football.
The three-time JUNO Awards winner and three-time Grammy winner received plenty of praise from fans who applauded the singer’s vocal and visual performance and staging.
There was some criticism towards the latest halftime show, most notably that male and female performers are often held to a different standard.
Katy Perry, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga’s performances from previous years quickly began trending on Twitter, while others kept their criticisms centered more on audio issues.
There were also plenty of tweets about The Weeknd’s use of robotic masks during the show’s opening and his bandaged dancers, which TBH seemed like the most COVID-compliant part of the entire Super Bowl. That’s a lot of people in one stadium when we’re not supposed to have more than five people in our homes at once.
Before you go: The Weeknd reveals the significance of his face bandages
[video_embed id='2132102']Before you go: The Weeknd reveals the significance of his face bandages[/video_embed]
