Super Bowl Halftime Show: See The Weeknd's Bloody, Bandaged Face Over the Months

Stephen Andrew

02/07/2021 08:28 pm EST

The 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Show has finally arrived, and you can see all of The Weeknd's bloody, bandaged face photos from over the months leading up to the big event. The shocking imagery first emerged as part of the singer's promotion for his newest album, After Hours. The album was released on March 20, 2020, and features a bloody-face Weeknd on the cover.

On Wednesday, Yahoo! published an exclusive interview with the music superstar — ahead of the big game — and spoke with him about the character he's been developing for the After Hours narrative, though he was careful not to reveal too much. "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 said, explaining the symbolism behind the bloody, bandages look. Scroll down to see images of The Weeknd from the past several months, and read more of what he had to say about it. Fans can also watch the Super Bowl for free online this year.

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The bloody face and eventual bandaged look can be seen evolving over the course of The Weeknd's music videos from After Hours. To date, there are four: "Hearthless," "Blinding Lights", "In Your Eyes", and "Save Your Tears."

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When asked about how it all fits together in his original "bad night in Las Vegas" storyline," the singer explained, "It's all a progression and we watch The Character's storyline hit heightened levels of danger and absurdity as his tale goes on."

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After it was implied that there is possibly some irony in The Weeknd purposefully making his "face increasingly unattractive" while promoting After Hours, he had a very sly response. "I suppose you could take that being attractive isn't important to me but a compelling narrative is," he said.

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The Weeknd has not always made appearances in character, since debuting the After Hours plot, and this is something he sees no issue with. "Why not play with the character and the artist and let those lines blur and move around?" he replied, after being asked about the inconsistency.

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At the end of his Yahoo! interview, The Weeknd was asked if he was "in character" in the moment. He responded by saying, "I don't know, I'd have to ask him."

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Ahead of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, an ad was released hyping the big event. It featured The Weeknd walking down a stadium tunnel as clips from his past music videos and live performances played on the walk beside him.

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It was unclear at the time if he would show up to the performance as The Weeknd or The Character, but now we know.

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