If you were also confused by the Silence of the Lamb masks featured in The Weeknd’s halftime performance, you’re not alone.
When it comes to deciding whether or not The Weeknd’s performance at this past Sunday’s Super Bowl LV entered the Top 10 halftime shows of all time, there’s no definitive answer. Katy Perry, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson – these are all peak performances that when you check any ranking, feature as the best. Down the line when it’s time to add more mind blowing halftime shows to the list, one thing seems obvious; that list probably won’t include The Weeknd.
For me, the confusion began when the creepy cloaked figure descended on to the stage. I was digging the whole retro Las Vegas scene before it was overtaken by red eyed back-up singers that gave me cultish vibes. I will say that The Weeknd absolutely rocked his red sparkly suit, which was very Michael Jacksonesque.
When he started singing, all of the strangeness was forgiven. Regardless of the questionable sound system that left him muffled, his vocals absolutely slayed. The standstill performance might not have been as visually pleasing as Katy Perry’s left shark dancer (#tbt) but his voice completely made up for it. If only it were left at that.
Usually when an artist leaves the stage and enters a backstage tunnel, it’s going to
be an interesting time. Did anyone else get motion sick when The Weeknd started spinning around or was it just me? He definitely achieved his goal; I really couldn’t feel my face with all the zooming in and out while going in circles. On the plus side, the internet got some great memes out of the confusing event.
“Blinding Lights” was by far the best number of the show. Once you get past the Silence of the Lamb masks, the dancing and light show were pretty neat. I might also be biased towards this based on the fact that I’m obsessed with this song, but my friends all agreed with me that this was the highlight of the halftime show. Now, if only they had brought in the Tik Tok dance. That would have been iconic.
By the time the commercials returned, the consensus in my house was in; we were all indifferent about Super Bowl LV’s halftime show. It wasn’t bad, but it also didn’t top our lists. The singing was fantastic but from the Super Bowl halftime show – one that The Weeknd allegedly spent $7 million of his own money on – we expected more. So, I took to Instagram and asked my followers what they thought.
The results proved that people were pretty torn about the performance. Up until the very last hour, the decision kept switching back and forth. In the end, the majority decided that they did in fact love the performance. My mom, who was also very invested in getting to the bottom of the halftime show confusion, found that he’s been hinting at this performance for months. And, allegedly, the Silence of the Lamb masks reflect the commentary his next album will have about Hollywood. But only a true fan would know this and honestly, maybe the Super Bowl wasn’t the time to promote it, especially in the eclectic way they chose to do so. The mixed reviews stand, pretty much guaranteeing that this is just one halftime show that we won’t be seeing on the future “Top 10 Super Bowl Halftime Shows” list.