Super Bowl Halftime Show: Bruno Mars Fans Think He Outdid The Weeknd's 2021 Performance

Bruno Mars and The Weeknd are two very different artists, but Super Bowl LV viewers decided to compare the two singers' halftime show performances on Sunday. Mars sang a collection of his danceable pop hits during the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show in February 2014 and brought in guests The Red Hot Chilli Peppers to join him. The Weeknd's performance was different, as he referenced the visual motifs he established in the music videos for his After Hours album.

Mars' setlist included "Billionaire," "Locked Out of Heaven," "Treasure," "Runaway Baby" and "Just the Way You Are." The Red Hot Chili Peppers joined him to perform their hit "Give It Away." While his performance was more like a traditional concert, The Weeknd went a different route and did not include any special guest, likely due to the coronavirus pandemic. He mixed his hits "Starboy," "Can't Feel My Face" and "Earned It" alongside After Hours singles "Blinding Lights" and "Save Your Tears."

Although The Weeknd's halftime show had some of the elements from his music videos, he ditched the bloody and bruised look for what was likely the largest audience of his career. "I definitely want to be respectful to the viewers at home. I will still incorporate some of the storyline [from the videos] -- it's a very cohesive story I'm telling throughout this year, so the story will continue, but we definitely will keep it PG-[rated] for the families," he said during his pre-game press conference. "I'll try my best."