The Weeknd surprised fans when he showed off his natural features in a new commercial for his Super Bowl 55 Halftime show. The Pepsi ad, which dropped on February 7, showed the 30-year-old “Save Your Tears” hitmaker driving up to a football stadium. The video also featured clips of fans enjoying his hit song “Blinding Lights”, including a grocery store worker and a pool cleaner who danced along to the tune. At the end of the commercial, The Weeknd flashed a smile at the parking lot security guard, confirming he hadn’t actually gone under the knife as some fans speculated.
The entertainer, born Abel Tesfaye, has been wearing bandages on his face while promoting his latest album. In fact, his bandage-covered face at the 2020 American Music Awards was actually a setup for his “Save Your Tears” music video, in which he debuted CGI prosthetic fillers. The singer looked totally unrecognizable in the video, which premiered on Jan. 5, as he rocked a fuller face that was made to give the illusion of cheek and lip fillers. The special effects makeup also included surgical scarring around his ears.
Some fans wondered whether the CGI makeover was a dig at his ex Bella Hadid. “Is The Weeknd trying to look like Bella Hadid bc I can see it,” one fan wrote on Twitter, adding side-by-side images of The Weeknd’s unrecofnizable look for the music video and a selfie of the 24-year-old model. Another person chimed in, “The Weeknd is definitely bashing Bella Hadid with the whole plastic surgery themes.”
Nevertheless, the singer is set to take the stage — with his real features intact — at the 2021 Super Bowl. After his baffling Grammys snub, a source told HollywoodLife that he’s now putting all of his energies toward the Feb. 7 football game. “Abel would like to be recognized with Grammy nominations especially since he has won in the past, but he is not going to be upset about it and let it get to him. He is basically going to use the snub as more of a chip on his shoulder for his Super Bowl performance,” a source close to The Weeknd dished to HL. “That is his real reward. He is now even more motivated to kill it for the Halftime show. They can snub him, but he will have the last laugh.”