THE Weeknd has revealed the inspiration behind his freaky fake plastic surgery was “people manipulating themselves” in Hollywood.
The singer, who will perform at the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show on Sunday, confirmed the 2022 dates for his After Hours Tour, the album which focusses on his bandaged alter ego.
The red jacket-wearing character – who endures a botched face, possession, and even decapitation – has appeared in many of his videos, TV and awards show appearances since the launch of his 2020 album.
The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, gave Variety some insight into the real meaning behind his bizarre-looking character.
“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 said.
“It’s all a progression and we watch The Character’s storyline hit heightened levels of danger and absurdity as his tale goes on.
“I suppose you could take that being attractive isn’t important to me but a compelling narrative is.”
The Weeknd noted that he enjoyed playing around with the character, which is why he doesn’t appear in every single video or appearance, however.
When asked if he was in character during the interview, – cheekily replied: “I don’t know, I’d have to ask him.”
Last month, he opted for his old face in a Super Bowl commercial promoting his upcoming Pepsi halftime show.
Days before, the singer had shocked fans after revealing what appeared to be extreme “plastic surgery” to his face.
a one-minute promo video for The Weeknd’s Super Bowl LV performance was released, and it saw the artist’s facial features looking just as they used to.
He appears at the very end of the commercial, after 45 seconds of various people all over singing and dancing along to his song Blinding Lights, while they’re either working or just hanging out.
The final person to be rocking out to the synthwave-R&B track is a security guard inside of his glass booth.
Just as he’s getting into the song, the singer himself rolls up in a convertible in order to get through the gate, and the security guard has to do a double-take.
He had no problem recognizing The Weeknd as the driver because his face was back to its old appearance, prior to a year of wearing bandages around it and prior to posting a surgery-looking selfie and music video.
His fans were initially “scared” after he debuted his new, freaky face in his new music video for Save Your Tears before it was revealed to be makeup and prosthetics.
