Why The Weeknd's Halftime Show Made Some Viewers Nauseous

The Weeknd's highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime performance is finally here! It all went down during the halftime of Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Fla., where Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes of the Tampa Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs went head to head despite the crazed past year and football season due to the coronavirus pandemic. As super fans of the two teams anxiously awaited the final score, music fans were delighted to watch The Weeknd perform his best hits.

Leading up to the performance, fans of the artist speculated how exactly the pop/R&B singer would alter his typically out-of-the-ordinary style to fit the Super Bowl stage. The "Starboy" singer shut down rumors he would bring out other artists like Drake and Ariana Grande, and his performance proved he probably didn't need the extra star power. 

The Weeknd instead danced solo (well ... with backup dancers, of course) and gave viewers a sneak peak into his music videos for his major Hot 100 hits during the performance, including "Can't Feel My Face," "Blinding Lights," "I Feel It Coming," and surprisingly, his 50 Shades of Grey single "Earned It." Following his performance one person tweeted, "The way The Weeknd used to be homeless in Canada, became a [sic] unknown artist who never [showed] his face and let his music speak for him now he's out here Performing @ the #SuperBowl I'm really emotional rn."

Despite viewers enjoying The Weeknd's halftime show, some were left quite dizzy — and even nauseous — from the performance.

No, it wasn't the bright red jacket or the hundreds of backup dancers in matching red jackets and face bandages that made viewers a bit nauseous during The Weeknd's Pepsi Super Bowl LV halftime performance ... it was the artist himself. After opening his performance with "Starboy" and debuting a huge band, The Weeknd, in his typical After Hours red blazer, seemingly walked behind the stage before grabbing a camera himself to walk around in an all gold hallway for his 2015 single "Can't Feel My Face."

The artist performed the song spinning around in circles, pushing the camera closer and closer to his face. The Weeknd's dancers dressed in the same red jacket and facial bandages (alluding to his alter ego that the artist claims is a statement about Hollywood's obsession with plastic surgery) joined the artist in the gold hallway to frantically run about and push The Weeknd around. The gold-mirrored maze and shifting of camera angles combined with the dancers crowding in and running about was a lot of stimulation for viewers. Additionally, the end of the performance — which saw The Weeknd and his dancers running around in circles on the Super Bowl field — also caused viewers to feel a bit dizzy. 

If one thing is certain, you can always count on Twitter users to turn anything, even just a part of a Super Bowl performance, into a viral sensation. Some on social media noted how nauseous they felt watching the performance, while others joked about the performance reminding them of the days they were lost in the supermarket looking for their mom.

Some viewers took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the Super Bowl halftime show, some complaining of nausea and others creating some hilarious memes of the clip of The Weeknd wandering the halls of the gold-mirrored maze.

One user tweeted: "If this #PepsiHalftime is a subliminal attempt to get me to drink soda because of how nauseous I feel ... well then genius." Another Twitter user shared, "I can't feel my face after the camera work during 'I Can't Feel My Face.'"

Others on Twitter made some hilarious comparisons to The Weeknd's maze moment. One Twitter user wrote, "When you lose your mom at the grocery store." Another user joked, "what my pizza rolls see from inside the microwave." One person poked fun at the camera angles and grabbed a still image of The Weeknd up close up and personal tweeting, "What my coworkers see on zoom meetings when I think my camera is off."

While some turned The Weeknd's performance into memes, a few famous viewers applauded The Weeknd for his performance. Olivia Munn tweeted, "This #SuperBowl halftime show makes me excited to go to concerts again. #TheWeeknd". Keith Urban was also blown away, tweeting, "DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN @theweeknd !!! loooooved the entire field being THE STAGE !" Dionne Warwick also shared her thoughts on the performance, tweeting, "Well done @theweeknd. Loved the set and pyros. You looked and sounded great! A Big Hug and Loud Applause!!"