On January 6, The Weeknd posted a completely un-contextualized, zero-explanation photo to Instagram of his face appearing to be heavily modified with plastic surgery. Whether it was some sort of CGI or prosthetics, he certainly fooled plenty of fans. If you're just itching for an explanation, we'll refer you to the corresponding music video, which is for the song "Save Your Tears." And we thought we had left all the nightmare fuel back in 2020.
The Weeknd once told GQ that he has an affinity for dark films, citing work from the likes of David Cronenberg and Brad Anderson as favorites. In addition, in an interview with Vice, the singer geeked out about his love for horror films and a pull towards all things macabre. "I usually don't like to 'spoon feed' my audience," explained Tesfaye in a note to his fans, "because I grew up idolizing story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same" (via Genius).
Analysis of his performance art suggests that this plastic surgery look serves as a sort of "final form" (à la Cronenberg's The Fly, perhaps?) and end to the character he's been building. We won't even start to get into the allegations that the look is meant to be a dig at ex Bella Hadid, despite many fans' hypotheses.
