The Weeknd is trying to get a message across with all those bandages on his face.
Ahead of his anticipated halftime performance at Sunday's Super Bowl, the 30-year-old singer shared the reason behind his appearance in a story arc that began with last year's video for his hit "Blinding Lights" and continued with a "Saturday Night Live" performance and then one with his face bandaged up at the American Music Awards.
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"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 told Variety on Wednesday.
In the "Blinding Lights" video, he's shown being smacked around and ending up with cuts and bruises after a rough night out. He followed that by wearing bandages during his live performances, all while in the same red suit.
"It’s all a progression and we watch The Character’s storyline hit heightened levels of danger and absurdity as his tale goes on," he said.
His most recent manifestation of the character came in last month's video for "Save Your Tears." With the bandages off and the "bruises" healed, he appeared with a face that looks like it's filled with Botox and fillers.
He explained why he has distorted his face while promoting his hit album.
"I suppose you could take that being attractive isn’t important to me but a compelling narrative is," he said.
There's no word on whether the bandages or the fake plastic surgery will make an appearance during The Weeknd's halftime show on Sunday, but fans can rest assured he is going big for the big game. He told Billboard that he is spending $7 million of his own money on the show, which will come in front of a reduced crowd of 25,000 due to the pandemic, as well as the millions watching at home.
"We’ve been really focusing on dialing in on the fans at home and making performances a cinematic experience, and we want to do that with the Super Bowl," he told Billboard.