The Weeknd Reveals He Spent Millions On Upcoming Super Bowl Performance

The Weeknd- Instagram

The Weeknd has arguably been the biggest artists in the world over the past year and the numbers don't lie. One of the biggest events of his life is coming up and that is performing at halftime of Super Bowl LV on February 7. 

This matchup features the Kansas City Chiefs and the home town Buccaneers in Tampa. The Chiefs will look to repeat as champions will Tom Brady will look to earn his seventh championship and give the Bucs their first since 2002. 

The XO artist is sure to dominate the halftime show and recently, he spoke with Billboard about the upcoming event. He revealed that he spent $7 million of his own money to make sure the show goes as planned.

"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."

The Weeknd’s manager, Wassim Slaiby, added that organizers of the SB halftime show took care of everything else. For The Weeknd though, he simply wanted to make sure that everything is on point for him. 

During this same interview, The Weeknd also spoke on the huge controversy of him not being nominated at all for the 2021 GRAMMYs. He originally called the Recording Academy "corrupt" for this and that he and his fans deserve transparency. At this point though, he is moving on but admitted he was surprised that he was snubbed.

“Look, I personally don’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. I suck at giving speeches anyways. Forget awards shows.”

The Weeknd's huge 2020 started at the end of 2019 when he released two new singles in "Heartless" and "Blinding Lights." Both went on to become No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart but Blinding Lights has been the biggest international hit. Both appeared on his fourth studio album, "After Hours," which was released in March. That also reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and also platinum status in the US. It did so within a month of its release.

The Weeknd was originally supposed to go on tour last year to promote After Hours but that was obviously sadly scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic arriving. The Toronto native is planning to get back on the road this summer though as new dates were revealed last year for 2021. 

The concerts will take place worldwide and as for the fans who held on to their tickets, they will still be valid at the rescheduled cities. It will kick off in Vancouver, BC and conclude on November 11 in Berlin, Germany.