The Weeknd's Face: Is That What He Really Looks Like?
If you've been paying attention to The Weeknd this past year, you would have noticed some things were a bit different. The "Blinding Lights" singer has gone through a bit of a physical transformation with the launch of his latest album, After Hours, which had fans speculating whether it was all real or not. Most recently, the singer released his fourth single off the album, "Save Your Tears," in November, which featured him with an almost unrecognizable face in the music video (via YouTube). That's due to a bunch of plastic surgery, which according to the New York Post, was all fake.
Most recently, the singer revealed his real face in a Pepsi ad while promoting his upcoming Super Bowl LV halftime performance. That could hint that you'll be seeing a normal looking The Weeknd during the show on Feb. 7, but fans who have been following the saga aren't too sure.
The Weeknd's transformation started with his Blinding Lights music video
The story begins with The Weeknd's music video for "Heartless," where the singer is seen partying around Las Vegas (via YouTube). That leads to his next single, "Blinding Lights," which is where the physical transformation starts to unfold. In the video, The Weeknd gets into a physical altercation, which results in a bloody, broken nose (via YouTube). According to NME, all of The Weeknd's videos for his After Hours album are linked in one long story.
The Weeknd spoke with Variety in April and revealed that each one of the videos carries on the storyline started in "Heartless." It's not actually supposed to be The Weeknd in the videos, but a character who "is having a really bad night" and the events are all taking place in that "one night." Though, it's not just the music videos that carry on the plot of After Hours. The Weeknd even kept up the charade in his The Late Show with Stephen Colbert performance, which could mean that it will carry on at the Super Bowl as well (via YouTube).
He was beat up at the MTV Video Music Awards
When the MTV Video Music Awards happened in August, The Weeknd was at his bruised and bloody stage of the story. He showed up to the awards show with special effects makeup that resembled his rough look in the "Until I Bleed Out" music video (via YouTube). While fans who had been following along with the story knew why the singer looked the way he did, some viewers were totally confused by the look. According to The Independent, one viewer even tweeted, "Why does The Weeknd look like he's been punched in the face?"
The singer started the show with a performance of his song "Blinding Lights" on a rooftop in New York City (via YouTube). He then went on to win two VMAs for "Blinding Lights" in the best R&B category and video of the year, according to Glamour. So, while he showed up to the show looking like a hot mess, he walked away a winner.
He showed up bandaged to the American Music Awards
At the next award show, the American Music Awards, The Weeknd showed up in his next stage of the story. This time, instead of bloody, he was in bandages. The white bandaged look was very similar to the "Too Late" music video that actually stars two women in face bandages who find The Weeknd's severed head in the road (via YouTube). It's like a very bizarre horror story, and the AMAs were just the next chapter.
At the show, The Weeknd performed his songs "Save Your Tears" and "In Your Eyes" with Kenny G (via YouTube). He then took home the awards for Best Male Artists Soul/R&B, Best Album Soul/R&B for After Hours, and Best Song Soul/R&B for "Heartless", according to BBC News. He also managed to confuse some viewers once again, while also receiving mixed reviews on his level of commitment to his album's overall story (via Elite Daily).
He revealed some plastic surgery on Instagram
The latest installment of The Weeknd's face saga is a real shocker. In his music video, "Save Your Tears," the singer's final transformation reveals a fully plastic surgery face. According to The Cut, the new look is very "botched, billionaire-socialite" with puffy lips and overdone cheek bones. He even posted a selfie of himself in his new look to Instagram, which caused a lot of fans to be confused. There was even a fact check done by Reuters which confirmed that the new face was fake.
Once fans could breathe a sigh of relief, that's when the LOL-worthy comparisons started. A lot of people thought The Weeknd's fake face looked an awful lot like the Handsome Squidward meme from SpongeBob SquarePants (via PopCrush).
With the Super Bowl halftime show on the horizon, fans are on the edge of their seats waiting to see what the singer has in store for his performance. Will he continue the After Hours storyline? You'll have to wait until Feb. 7 to find out, but what is known is that The Weeknd put up $7 million of his own money to the performance. According to WBNS, that is so that he could get the full performance "he envisioned," so you can bet it's going to be epic.