The Weeknd is funding his own Super Bowl halftime show to the tune of $7 million

In the world of sport, Super Bowl Sunday is just a little over a week away. In the world of celebs and entertainment, the Super Bowl halftime show is a little over a week away. This year’s performance will, of course, be very different (the pandemic: still happening) but that doesn’t mean that millions of fans watching from home won’t be treated to an epic performance — this time from Canada’s own The Weeknd. 

Sunday February 7 will see the singer perform at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay — a show he’s shelled out $7 million of his own money to make happen. That’s a big price tag for a show lasting just 12 minutes and it comes on top of the usual production costs covered by NFL organizers. 

Ahead of the performance, The Weeknd (legal name: Abel Tesfaye) and his crew chatted with Billboard about why he’s so invested in it and why he felt that the extra infusion of cash was necessary. “We’ve been really focusing on dialing in on the fans at home and making performances a cinematic experience, and we want to do that with the Super Bowl,” Tesfaye said.

"We all grow up watching the world's biggest acts playing the Super Bowl and one can only dream of being in that position," he said when the announcement about his performance first dropped. "I'm humbled, honored and ecstatic to be the center of that infamous stage this year."

“Cinematic” is a concept The Weeknd knows well, having spent the last year performing an IRL drama in which public appearances with bruises and bandages led up to the release of a new video that made Tesfaye appear as though he’d undergone dramatic facial reconstruction à la the worst of the Real Housewives. 

Next Sunday’s halftime show will mark the first time a Canadian artist has graced the Super Bowl stage since 2003 (h/t Shania Twain) and the second performance to come out of the NFL’s 2019 partnership with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. Having a Black artist headline halftime is one tiny step forward for a league trying to rehabilitate its image in terms of anti-Black racism. One. Tiny. Step. 

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Post-Bowl, The Weeknd intends to (pandemic-permitting) go ahead with plans for a 2021 summer tour, though it may not look exactly like he’d initially envisioned. “Is the tour going to be the ‘After Hours’ tour still? Is it going to be this new album’s tour, with the same tickets?” Tesfaye mused during the interview. “It’s a whole puzzle I’m trying to wrap my head around right now.” We know the feeling. 

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