The Weeknd’s Super Bowl halftime show comes under scrutiny

The 2021 Super Bowl half-time entertainment was provided by The Weeknd whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye. There is a great divide regarding his performance with some calling it spectacular and others saying it was demonic. Before we get into that let’s take a look at the life of this obscure young man. Tesfaye was born on February 16, 1990, in Toronto, Ontario Canada to Ethiopian immigrant parents. He was raised in Scarborough by his mother and grandmother after his parents divorced. He says he did not see his father much but does not hold it against him. He admits his das was not abusive but simply remarried, had a new family, and stopped showing up.

Tesfaye states that he grew up attending Ethiopian Orthdox church and admits to having a drug problem as a teenager. He says he began smoking marijuana at age 11 and admits that he began shoplifting in order to supplement his use of the following drugs. Cocaine, ecstasy, Xanax, ketamine, oxycodone, and psilocybin. Today he is a singer, songwriter, and record producer whose versatility in vocal style, and music production, have garnered him much attention. He is considered as an influence to contemporary music and produces Pop, R&B, and Alternative R&B.

The Weeknd’s recording career began in 2010 when he anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube. One year later, he released the mixtapes House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. He immediately earned a huge following as well as critical acclaim from several mainstream publications. This was due to the mystique surrounding his identification and also his dark style of R&B. The Weeknd signed with Republic Records, in 2012 and re-released his mixtapes in the album Trilogy that same year. His debut studio album, Kiss Land, was released the following year in 2013.

This was followed by Beauty Behind the Madness in 2015. which was among the best-selling albums that year. In 2016 during the Grammy’s the album won Best Urban Contemporary Album and was also nominated for Album of the Year. The Weeknd also received the Grammy for the best new artist. His third album Starboy won the Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album in 2018. The Weeknd is considered one of the world’s best-selling artists with more than 74 million records being sold. His success is pretty remarkable and he’s being rewarded for his hard work.

In addition to his Grammy’s The Weeknd received the Allan Slaight Award by Canada’s Walk of Fame. He has also won two MTV Video Music Awards, five American Music Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, and nine Juno Awards. The entertainer has even been nominated for an Academy Award. He is the first artist to simultaneously hold the top three positions on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart with "Can't Feel My Face", "Earned It", and "The Hills".

The Weekend had also been linked with some of the most beautiful women in the world including Bella Haidad and Selena Gomez. He is one of the highest paid entertainers worldwide with a net worth of 80 million dollars. He has drawn comparisons to Michael Jackson. The artist says he adopted his stage name after leaving home one weekend at the age of 17 and never going back. He did not like his birth name so he decided to change it. He dropped the e in his stage name because there was already a Canadian band called the Weekend.

Now to the controversy. Numerous publications have hailed the halftime show as show stopping many watched the entertainment are complaining. All across the Internet people are saying they became dizzy, nauseaus, or had headaches while watching The Weeknd running through the golden maze. Many are asking what the purpose was to induce motion sickness upon the masses? Some viewers say they were disturbed by the dark, sinister angel that descended and others didn’t like people in choir robes singing behind The Weeknd’s secular music, calling it sac religious.

It did not go unnoticed that the artist and his backup singers were dressed in red, white, and black which are considered by some to be Illuminati colors. These three colors have dominated music Awards shows for the past 5 or 6 years. It’s believed by some that they represent selling oneself for fame and fortune. There was also an issue by some who tuned in regarding those face bandages being creepy. The consensus seems to be that The Weeknd is talented and could have captivated the audience without all the imagery. The Vulture ran an article saying the singer was backed by a heavenly choir. Others believe it was the choir from hell along with a fallen angel. That’s about the size of it.