Super Bowl halftime show: The Weeknd gives ‘brilliant’ performance with dancers in face bandages
'Blinding Lights' star has earned widespread praise for his performance
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Your support makes all the difference.The Weeknd has earned widespread praise for his performance during the 2021 Super Bowl halftime show.
The artist, real name Abel Tesfaye, was the first Canadian to headline solo at the event. He opened his performance on Sunday with the 2016 tune "Starboy". Shortly afterwards, viewers got a glimpse of The Weeknd with a group of dancers whose faces were wrapped in bandages – an aesthetic the artist has explored recently, which he views as a statement on celebrity.
The concert culminated when The Weeknd and a large group of bandaged dancers took over the field for a performance of "Blinding Lights" with an accompanying choreography. Viewers showered The Weeknd with praise on social media, deeming his show "brilliant" and "amazing".
The Independent gave the performance a 4.5-star review, deeming it "a thoroughly produced, brilliantly escapist 10 minutes" that "helped a deeply divided country – however briefly – dance away the pain of this past year".
Earlier in the evening, country star Eric Church and R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan performed the national anthem, while R&B artist HER was on hand to sing “America the Beautiful”. Their performances were also met with appreciation on social media.
Poet Amanda Gorman, who read during Joe Biden's presidential inauguration last month, read a poem during pre-show festivities, paying tribute to a teacher, a nurse, and a Marine Corps veteran during the coronavirus pandemic. Viewers called her performance as "phenomenal", "uplifting", and "inspirational".
In the afternoon, Miley Cyrus performed in front of selected healthcare workers for a special pre-game show. She was joined onstage by Billy Idol and Joan Jett.
Of course, this year's Super Bowl was also a chance for studios to debut high-profile trailers. The first teaser for M Night Shyamalan's Old was unveiled, as well as that of the anticipated Marvel series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
You can follow the 2021 Super Bowl as it happened thanks to our live blog below.
I can't get over The Weeknd's halftime show performance. I don't want to let go! So let's browse photos of it together, shall we?
Meanwhile, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton poked fun at their marriage in a hilarious ad – watch it below:
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton mock their relationship in ‘hilarious’ Super Bowl ad
Couple announced engagement in October
Well, clearly I'm not the only one who enjoyed The Weeknd's performance.
By the way, today is officially known as The Weeknd Day in Toronto, the artist's native city in Canada. The mayor shared the announcement in a tweet earlier today:
Each photo of The Weeknd's halftime show is cooler than the next. Perhaps because the performance itself was phenomenal?
Good news to fans who would like to experience the magic of tonight's performance: The Weekend has plans to tour again in 2022. Good things come to those who wait!
The Weeknd reschedules After Hours tour dates to January 2022
The tour will be in support of his After Hours album, which dropped in March 2020
Trailer alert! Disney and Marvel released a new trailer for the highly anticipated series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+ during the Super Bowl. Later, a longer, two-minute trailer premiered online.
Watch it in the story below:
Marvel unveils new Falcon and Winter Soldier Disney+ trailer during Super Bowl 2021
The trailer reveals the return of villain Baron Helmut Zemo, who some might remember from Captain America: Civil War
And here's our 4.5-star review of The Weeknd's performance tonight. Our very own Rachel Brodsky calls it "a thoroughly produced, brilliantly escapist 10 minutes" – and I couldn't agree more:
Super Bowl 2021: The Weeknd unites a divided country on the dance floor with a slick, hyper-stylised halftime show
The 'Blinding Lights' singer's Super Bowl debut was a thoroughly produced, brilliantly escapist 10 minutes that helped us temporarily forget about the last 11 months
Stephen Colbert starred in a Super Bowl ad of his own tonight, but it wasn't to everyone's liking:
Stephen Colbert blasted for ‘disgusting’ Super Bowl ad
Late-night comic slammed on social media for commercial promoting CBS show
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