Every year the Super Bowl halftime show is long-awaited. This year, the Weeknd got to perform this spectacular show but left a lot of people confused and disappointed. Most of the audience was confused by the bandage masks on the backup dancers, the gold mirror room, and the performance in general. What the audience did not know, was that every detail that went into this show had a meaning behind it that lead up to this performance. If you were confused while watching, VALLEY has some details for you that will give some insight on this performance.
Photo from elle.com
The Bandaged Dancers
There is a lot of backstories when it comes to these bandages so let’s give a little insight. In November of 2020, The Weeknd released his album, “After Hours” which is pictured with a bloody nose, bloody mouth and scratched up face. In the song, “Save Your Tears” from this album, the music video shows him wrapped up in face bandages which looks like the aftermath of plastic surgery. The Weeknd created this whole storyline leading up to the halftime performance where his face seemed to be completely normal.
The Weeknd had spoken with Variety, saying, “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 Weeknd’s in-depth thought into this performance was very meaningful. With most of Hollywood’s celebrities constantly getting plastic surgery, changing the way they look does not make them any more attractive. Additionally, it also does not change people’s view on them and The Weeknd wanted to get that point across to the audience through his performance.
The Rundown
Tik Tok creator, @waleezy, goes into detail about The Weeknd’s struggle throughout Hollywood. At the beginning of the halftime show, The Weeknd is just trying to chase his dreams of becoming a singer. He performs “StarBoy” while dancing with a city behind him. Then the show goes into him singing “Can’t feel my face”. He is running around the gold, mirrored room alone as he is confused, gets bombarded with the different versions of himself-the bandaged dancers and quite literally cannot feel his face because it is plastic.
The show ends with the singer and dancers on the field as they are dancing in sync while performing “Blinding Lights”. The performers start going out of control and then finish their dance by laying around him portraying the different Hollywood versions of himself are dead and he is left alone to be himself.
This show was meant to be very meaningful and there is a lot to take from it. It is important to remember being yourself is the best thing that you can do and all beauty is beautiful. VALLEY hopes that this article gave you some insight into the halftime show. If it did, tweet us @VALLEYmag!
