Why The Weeknd’s dancers were wearing white masks at Super Bowl LV

Why The Weeknd’s dancers were wearing white masks at Super Bowl LV

The Super Bowl LV halftime show featured a weird but very cool performance from The Weeknd. Now viewers are wondering why all of his dancers were wearing white masks.

It wasn’t because Super Bowl LV was being played in the middle of a global pandemic, though that would make sense. Here’s why the dancers were wearing the full-face white coverings, the meaning behind them, and much more.

Where did we first see the masks

We first saw the masks in the music videos for The Weeknd’s most recent album, After Hours, released in November 2020. In those videos, he plays a masked character with a busted nose and bandaged face.

That character from his videos also made a few public appearances and led many people to ask about the status of The Weeknd’s face. “Is his face okay? Has he gone under the knife?” Well, after watching the Super Bowl halftime show, it’s clear that his face is okay, but the imagery of the bandaged face was still present through all of his background dancers.

What is the meaning behind the mask?

For The Weeknd, the masks are a social commentary on Hollywood and its ridiculous culture around unnecessary plastic surgery and self-manipulation to keep up with ever-changing beauty standards through self-validation. From Blinding Lights to Save Your Tears, After Hour, and songs in between, you can see The Weeknd’s character fall into crazed madness while chasing happiness in all the wrong places, including in his looks.

When asked why he changed his appearance to promote his album, After Hours, and the message behind it, The Weeknd said, “I suppose you could take that being attractive isn’t important to me, but a compelling narrative is.” Though The Weeknd did not decided to wear the mask for his Super Bowl halftime show performance, he made sure that they, and the message they stand for, were present during his performance.

The masked dancers were more than an aesthetically interesting choice on the part of The Weeknd for his Super Bowl LV halftime performance. They were also more than The Weeknd simply promoting his album. Instead, they were his attempt to genuinely continuing a much-needed conversation on beauty standards, plastic surgery, and self-manipulation for validation. I’d say that’s pretty deep for a halftime show.

Why were the Weeknd’s Super Bowl dancers wearing facial bandages?

The Significance of Full-Face Bandages in the Weeknd’s Super Bowl Performance

Dancers wearing full-face bandages could be seen throughout the Weeknd’s Super Bowl LV halftime performance and they attracted plenty of attention on social media.

But what was the significance of the outfits?

When the Weeknd started promoting his “After Hours” album in 2019, the Weeknd began creating a red-jacketed, busted-nose character who was dealing with a bad-night-in-Las-Vegas storyline.

“This character is having a really bad night, and you can come with your own interpretation of what it is," the Weeknd told Variety in April 2020. “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.”

On Sunday, the Weeknd did not bandage his own face, but he did do so during an American Music Awards in November.

The Weeknd’s latest performance was certainly memorable, albeit under highly unusual circumstances.

Here’s a look at the full performance from Super Bowl LV:

The performance took place after the conclusion of the first half between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs with the Buccaneers leading 21-6. Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady threw for 140 yards and three touchdowns in the first half while Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 67 yards.

For more Super Bowl LV coverage visit Arrowhead Report and All Bucs.

Super Bowl 2021 halftime show: Here’s why The Weeknd’s dancers wore bandages during halftime performance

The Weeknd was the solo headliner for the Super Bowl LV Pepsi Halftime show and after the performance, fans were discussing the use of facial bandages on his dancers. This is not the first time The Weeknd has used this imagery and ahead of the game, he discussed the reasoning for continuing the story he’s been telling over the past year or so.

The Weeknd himself appeared in similar bandages during his American Music Awards in November, but he personally opted out of wearing them on Sunday.

His dancers however, were seen wearing bandages that covered the majority of their faces.

The Weeknd spoke of the meaning before, saying (via Variety):

“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.”

He added that, “It’s all a progression and we watch The Character’s storyline hit heightened levels of danger and absurdity as his tale goes on.”

While speaking to the media during Super Bowl media week, he said he wanted to include this character during the performance.

“I definitely want to be respectful to the viewers at home. I will still incorporate some of the storyline, it’s a very cohesive story I’m telling throughout this year, so the story will continue,” he said.

He did mention that he wanted to keep it PG for the families watching, which some of his videos and references of the past have not been.

Super Bowl LV is currently being broadcast on CBS and streaming on the CBS Sports app and CBSSports.com.