On the 24th of November last year, Abel Tesfaye, more commonly known as The Weeknd, was snubbed by the GRAMMY Awards from receiving any nominations for his critically acclaimed and commercially successful album, After Hours. Led by the record-holding “Blinding Lights”, it was a surprise to him and his crew to not be considered for numerous honors such as Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. Almost as if a statement against being shut out by the GRAMMYs, he put on a 14-minute spectacle during the pandemic. Within this 14-minute spectacle are various hits over the years, catering to both old and new XO fans (Weeknd fans). There is something for each and every prospective and hardcore fan that they can find here in this performance by the ‘devil with an angel’s voice’.
The Show
I will be dissecting this performance in two ways, using The Literal (what actually happened) and The Interpretation (what I think he was trying to convey) as well as into various acts with defining titles.
1. Moment of Clarity:
The Literal
The Weeknd sits in a Tesla roadster with a set of Las Vegas in the background. He then gets out of the car to sit on a ledge overlooking the whole stadium with an angel being lowered from above as the choir sings the chorus of “Call Out My Name”.
The cinematography right at the beginning sets the standard for what is to come in the later performances.
The atmosphere is breathtaking and ever-changing (again, as seen in later acts). In this scene, it changes from the bright lights and sounds of casinos to cooler-colored lights punctuated by the choir and their heavenly voices.
The Interpretation
The audience is welcomed into the Weeknd’s world of gambling away his pain on a drug-induced bender. Stepping away from his Tesla Roadster, he gazes into the abyss that he has created. This personal, and possibly spiritual, epiphany is rare for him and thus he is forced to consider the terrible decisions he made to reach this sorry state.
“Call Out My Name” as the song choice here, especially the lyrics of the chorus, could point to the longing for the ex-lover — the reason for this crazy, intoxicating adventure.
The symbolism here is emphasized by his turning back on the city as if he turned his back on his vices as well as the falling of the angel from above — a coming down from his high so to speak. However, the angel’s descent could also signify Abel’s descent into his personal hell which plays into the following acts.
2. Welcome to (The Weeknd’s) Hell
The Weeknd comes out with high energy addressing the Tampa Bay stadium and the 25,000 fans before singing the chorus to “Starboy”. He glides across the stage, glasses in hand, a dancing choir and fireworks in the background, and a red light cast upon him with the confidence and moves of MJ but with his own unique voice and ad-libs. As the last “Starboy” echoes throughout the stadium, he throws away his glasses and transitions into “The Hills”.
With the heavy bass-line driving the song, Abel sings the first verse and the chorus sprinkling a few remarkable vocal flourishes here and there, leading to the next song, which is “Can’t Feel My Face” but the intro to the song has an interpolation of “After Hours”. The location also changes accordingly towards the mysterious but extremely well-lit golden room inside the stage.
The set pieces in the background have words in glowing neon signs alluding to many themes and sensations in the album like ‘ALONE’, ‘TOUCH’, and ‘ENOUGH’.
Arriving at his designated performance, Abel aims to please the audience with his majestic vocals and performances with the red light contrasting his devilish nature against the divine background of the choir. The man is singing his heart out to release his pent-up emotions before he inevitably has to go back to his old ways off stage.
Starting off with “Starboy”, he illustrates the grandeur of lifestyle and the heights of his stardom. On the other hand, “The Hills” paints a picture of the ugly side of fame with the inability of being faithful in a relationship.
3. The Hall of Mirrors
Once inside the gold-colored room (reminiscent of the colors of the original “Heartless” and “Blinding Lights” music videos), The Weeknd finds himself in a labyrinth of mirrors, looking like a lost child in a supermarket trying to find his mother (thus spewing a number of memes). The camerawork here is dizzying and, with the onslaught of Abel lookalikes wrapped in bandages, the choreography becomes chaotic. For a brief moment, everyone in the room synchronized to stand still. Mayhem continued thereafter, losing our star in the confusion.
Inside the stage is a brightly-lit labyrinth of mirrors for The Weeknd to take a look at and face himself. The appearance of his lookalikes is a callback to his attire in the Save Your Tears / In Your Eyes live performance at the 2020 American Music Awards, reaching its final form in the official music video for “Save Your Tears”. This, coupled with the crazy camerawork and madness, could refer to him losing his mind and his identity, being incapable of finding himself in the vast sea of mirrors (and lookalikes).
“Can’t Feel My Face” is a cheeky song in this scene because his lookalikes’ heads are all wrapped up. The other, more ‘in-theme’ interpretation of the song in this context is that Abel is under the influence again and he just cannot get enough of it — to the point where he is unable to ‘feel his face’.
4. Success
The Weeknd exits the Hall of Mirrors to the beat of “I Feel It Coming”. In his background are these elaborate fireworks that resemble a crown forming atop his head (as a result of the framing of the camera) and the cheering crowd. In the middle of the song, a moon rises out from the bottom of the screen to complete the beautiful animated background. Shortly after that, another display of crown-like-looking fireworks lit up the night sky before finally the bassline to “Save Your Tears” signaled the transition into the next song — this time in a blue-tinged backdrop of the city. This rendition interpolates “House of Balloons” throughout parts of the song (foreshadowing an appearance of the song).
Once the song ends, a captivating (but fake) violin interpretation of the intro to “Earned It” takes center stage before Abel and the rest of the crew take back the limelight. After showing off his impressive vocal range and control of the high notes, the stage goes dark in anticipation of, arguably, the most exciting and surprising moment and song appearance.
Coming out of the Hall of Mirrors, The Weeknd ‘feels it coming’. ‘It’ refers to him reaching even greater heights than previously envisioned. This is followed closely by a callout to the haters by telling them to ‘save your tears for another day’ and reminding the fact that through his hard work and tireless efforts he has absolutely ‘earned it’ — ‘ít’ being his place and position in the world of music and culture. The lights going out at the end of this performance signals his inner light being snuffed out, only to be reborn into someone newer, bolder, more ambitious, and more successful.
5. The Switch-up
The Literal and The Interpretation Interlinked
‘House of Balloons’, appearing as the first half of the song “House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls” from his debut mixtape House of Balloons, is an homage to the OG XO fans. This is a welcome surprise of a song to bring to one of the biggest stages in mainstream media. The uncontrollable smile and giddiness felt by every OG XO fan, such as I, once the sample of “Happy House” by Siouxsie and the Banshees came into full effect here — which is a testament to how far Abel has come from his humble beginnings. The Weeknd clones on the field represent the copycats inspired by the style and production of the original mixtapes: House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence in that order. The army-like marching of the clones is reminiscent of the terrifying hyena marching scene from The Lion King’s rendition of “Be Prepared”. The red tinge engulfing the whole stadium is a reference to the hellish landscape he finds himself in during the early days of making it in the industry. The Weeknd struts down the middle of the aisle singing “This is fun baby!…This is fun to me!” showing that he enjoyed his time in the old days — having the time of his life indulging himself in his vices while producing quality music. What follows are a series of drum fills in which The Weeknd and his clones march to its beat before cleanly transitioning into the biggest hit of 2020 — “Blinding Lights”.
I could gush on about the perfect transition between the two songs but we must look at the wider picture here — why this specific transition? In my opinion, it is in reference to his rise to fame: from an underground artist to one of the most acclaimed and well-known R&B artists of the modern era and, arguably, of all time. From ‘robbing a n**** for his Jordans’ to getting a Teen’s Choice Award for a song about doing cocaine (Can’t Feel My Face) to being selected for the Super Bowl in a televised show performing his biggest hits of all time.
The phenomenal spectacle then ends with a shot of him, arms stretched out wide towards the sky, all clones face down in the field, and a fabulous fireworks display to cap off this amazing performance for the ages. This is truly one for the history books
Highlights:
There are many notable highlights in this show but I will just point out those that I deem the best of the best with the corresponding time stamps and a short description about it.
2:13-2:18:- “Starboy” high notes
3:35-3:39 :- “Half-past five baby!” offbeat adlib
4:48-5:14:- This particular Hall of Mirrors sequence
5:44-5:57:- Moonlight
6:00-6:21:- Fireworks display and framing of the scene
7:26-7:46:- (Fake) violin interpretation of the intro to “Earned It”
9:19-9:20:- Wink
9:35-10:02:- Sequence of control of high notes
10:04:- The first sounds of the “House of Balloons” ‘s sample of “Happy House”
11:00-11:05:- “This is fun baby!…This is fun to me!”
11:08-11:30:- Drumfill for the clean transition into “Blinding Lights” by altering the tempo of the drumbeat to make it faster. The steps to the drumbeat also change accordingly to the tempo
13:21-13:37: That “Oooooooh” perfectly timed with the fireworks display. The framing of the final scene against a backdrop of an extraordinary fireworks display
Check out this historic performance here:
Check out the breakdown of the fake violin performance here: