In a year shaped by the pandemic, a pop star with a penchant for the grandeur and lustre of the biggest 1980s pop found a way to make an enormous affair small.
For almost his entire decade-long career, The Weeknd has been finding ever more fancy ways to grab the spotlight, becoming tremendously famous and popular while maintaining cool, sceptical and goofy spotlight fame.
How much did The Weeknd make from his Super Bowl halftime show?
According to Forbes, The Weeknd’s performance could cost as much as $20 million. Meanwhile, his team would not specify if that is going towards pyrotechnics, a hologram or a diamond-encrusted microphone.
Surprisingly, The Weeknd will not make a single penny from his performance at the 2021 Super Bowl show. Additionally, the 30-year-old entertainer invested $7 million to the gig’s production budget but believes the payoff will be huge.
WATCH: The Weeknd Super Bowl Performance
Why stars perform for free? The answer is the exposure that comes with a televised audience of over 100 million people. Celebrities agree to perform for free and even subsidize the cost of production through their concert promoters or record labels because of the incredible exposure.
Reportedly, last year’s half time performers Jennifer Lopez and Shakira also agreed to the no payment clause. Meanwhile, JLo and Shakira’s on-demand music streams jumped by 149% and 221% respectively, the night of and day after 2020’s half time show.
According to analytics firm ListenFirst, Lopez gained more than 2M new followers across social media during the week following the Super Bowl, while Shakira gained more than 600K.
Stars such as Bruno Mars and Beyonce have agreed to no payment pact in the past Super Bowl halftime show.
You will all have to agree; even the biggest names need to promote themselves continually. And the Super Bowl halftime show is the single biggest promotional vehicle for a music star on the planet!
The exposure generally garnered causes a spike in the artist’s Spotify streams and social media. For example, Justin Timberlake’s halftime show performance saw a 214% surge in his Spotify streams. Besides, the ticketing site StubHub traffic upturns with a min. 50% increase after the Super Bowl shows.
The Weeknd Super Bowl Performance and Songs
The Weeknd known as Abel Tesfaye offstage took to the stage for the Pepsi Super Bowl LV halftime performance with plenty of men dressed like in all black with red jackets and of course, the bandaged faces.
The Grammy-winning performed a medley of his hit songs, including “Can’t Feel My Face,” “Earned It” and his more recent chart-topper, “Blinding Lights.”
The vibrant set in the stands of the stadium resembling Las Vegas strip provided as the backdrop for a massive choir and instrumentalists.
At the end of the show, The Weeknd moved to the field with an army of bandaged-faced dancers in an apparent nod to recent appearances in which his face wrapped in bandages, sometimes looking bruised and bloodied.
The Weeknd also explained that there would be no surprise guests due to coronavirus protocols.
