The Weeknd is forking out millions of his own money to ensure the success of his Super Bowl show next week and boy, that’s commitment.
In an interview with Billboard, manager Wassim Slaiby revealed The Weeknd had put up a cool USD $7 million to “make this halftime show be what he envisioned.”
The Weeknd went on to explain that he is keeping at-home viewers at the forefront of his plans for the performance, since the stadium will only be about a third full.
“We’ve been really focusing on dialling in on the fans at home and making performances a cinematic experience, and we want to do that with the Super Bowl,” he said.
According to The Weeknd’s other manager, Amir Esmailian, performing at the Super Bowl has always been a part of the team’s “bucket list”.
“We’ve always had timelines for all of our goals, it came a few years earlier than we expected,” he said.
Other than the impressive amount of cash he has splurged, The Weeknd has remained coy about details of the Super Bowl show.
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It is not yet known exactly what he spent the money on, or the songs he is expected to perform.
However, it has been confirmed that the performance will go for about 12-13 minutes, despite previous reports that it was set to be longer than the average show.
It’s safe to say The Weeknd’s investment is likely to pay off, given last year’s halftime show with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira drew a whopping 102 million viewers.
Elsewhere in the Billboard interview, The Weeknd once again weighed in on his now-infamous Grammys snub.
He simply labelled the decision to not nominate him following the release of his acclaimed album After Hours “an attack”.
“I use a sucker punch as an analogy,” he said, “because it just kind of hit me out of nowhere.”
He continued: “I definitely felt … I felt things. I don’t know if it was sadness or anger. I think it was just confusion. I just wanted answers. Like, ‘What happened?’
“We did everything right, I think. I’m not a cocky person. I’m not arrogant. People told me I was going to get nominated… the world told me. Like, ‘This is it; this is your year.’ We were all very confused.”
Despite his surprise, he went on to conclude that he “[doesn’t] care anymore.”
“I have three Grammys, which mean nothing to me now, obviously. It’s not like, ‘Oh, I want the Grammy!’ It’s just that this happened, and I’m down to get in front of the fire, as long as it never happens again.”
Check out ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd:
