The Weeknd is gearing up for his Pepsi Halftime Super Bowl LV performance in Tampa with a hearty last meal.
The 30-year-old Canadian singer, born Abel Tesfaye, enjoyed a leisurely meal on the football field in a new commercial before getting bombarded by footballs dropping from the sky.
The video served as one of many final promotional pushes ahead of the big game this Sunday, February 7, where the Kansas City Chiefs will take on Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Hottest reservation: The Weeknd enjoys a decadent meal on the football field before getting bombarded with balls in new promotional video for his Pepsi Halftime show on Sunday
The stylized video showed The Weeknd all decked out in costume while sipping on some coffee and reading the paper with a decadent meal before him.
A bountiful spread of fruits, jello, and shrimp cocktail around him, the meal had all the makings of a good time.
Raining footballs slowly began to storm down as the always cool artist continued on with his business, shielded by the protection of a striped umbrella.
The ad was released the same day The Weeknd released his 18-track album The Highlights which features his most noteworthy songs throughout the years ahead of his performance.
Fit for a king: He enjoyed a bountiful spread of fruits and shrimp cocktail while decked out in costume
The final supper: The laid back atmosphere of the meal changes when footballs come pouring from the sky though he appears unfazed
Perfection: Tesfaye put up $7M of his own money to make his performance ‘what he envisioned’ he told Billboard
The most watched program nationally every year with over 100M concurrent views, he was able to secure the coveted performance slot, even putting up $7M of his own money to ‘make this halftime show be what he envisioned,’ he told Billboard in late January.
‘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,’ he said.
Additionally he shot down rumors that there would be any ‘special guests’ joining him on stage in an NFL interview with Kay Adams on Thursday.
‘I wouldn’t bet on it. There wasn’t any room to fit it in the narrative and in the story I was telling in the performance so, yeah, there’s no special guests,’ he said.
He even got words of encouragement from former Super bowl halftime performer Lenny Kravitz who told CNN ‘I’m sure [The Weeknd] is going to do a great job. He’s very talented and has great music, so I expect a great performance.’
Storm a coming: A final promotional push ahead of this Sunday’s performance, the Blinding Lights singer was roused by the sound of falling footballs
Flying solo: He shot down any rumors there would be special guest performers in an interview on Thursday as he said ‘I wouldn’t bet on it’
Falling down: Many though his Grammy snubs had to do with the fact that he was slated to perform at the halftime show
Though an exciting honor, many thought snagging the slot caused him to be snubbed by the 2021 Grammys, receiving no nominations despite having some of the year’s number one hits and being submitted in six categories.
Sources told TMZ in November that his camp was reportedly given an ultimatum by the Grammys months prior – if he chose to move forward with doing the halftime show he would not be performing at the Grammys.
Though the reports of the purported negotiations between Tesfaye’s camp and The Grammys have not been unverified as the final straw leading up to not receiving any award consideration, many insiders believed it indeed played a part.
He called the institution ‘corrupt’ but maintained to Billboard, ‘I personally don’t care anymore,’ as he looks to
The Weeknd is set to take the stage in an explosive 12-13 minute performance this Sunday on CBS.
Let’s go: Backing his upcoming 12-13 minute performance with $7M of his own funds, he told Billboard ‘We’ve been really focusing on dialing in on the fans at home and making performances a cinematic experience’