Overview

The Weeknd's Super Bowl LV Halftime Show, also known as The Weeknd's Hall of Mirrors, refers to a performance of the pop song "I Can't Feel My Face" by the Canadian artist The Weeknd during the halftime show at Super Bowl LV held on February 7th, 2021. Following the performance, a clip of The Weeknd navigating through a brightly lit corridor was widely circulated as a reaction video and GIF, used to express feelings of confusion and exasperation.

Background

On February 7th, 2021, Canadian artist The Weeknd performed his song "Can't Feel My Face" during the Super Bowl LV halftime show at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.^[1] As part of the performance, The Weeknd was shown navigating a brightly lit corridor while appearing frantic and confused (shown below).

🔥🔥🔥 @TheWeeknd #PepsiHalftime #SBLV pic.twitter.com/QCFlAPcion

— NFL (@NFL) February 8, 2021

Online Reactions

Immediately following the start of the half-time show, the footage of The Weeknd started being used as source material for memes. Within two minutes of the show's start, Twitter^[2] user @RyanSchoket posted the earliest viral meme based on the footage, posting two images of The Weeknd and writing "what my pizza rolls see from inside the microwave." The tweet received over 17,300 retweets and 129,700 likes in 14 hours (shown below).

Within eight minutes of the start of the halftime show, Twitter^[3][4] users @Skeeter696969 and @sports17410021 uploaded the short clips of The Weeknd walking through the corridor, with the clips gaining over 33.7 million and 9.4 million views due to actively being used in memes in the following hours (@Skeeter696969's clip shown below). Additionally, a longer clip by the official Twitter^[5] account of NFL received over 2.3 million views.

pic.twitter.com/sCCADYeCBE

— Skeeter (@Skeeter696969) February 8, 2021

Within ten minutes of the start of the performance, Twitter^[6] user @ConorRyan_93 posted the first viral meme based on the clip, captioning it "me trying to follow the hostess to my table at the Cheesecake Factory." The post received over 33,600 retweets and 174,800 likes in 14 hours (shown below).

me trying to follow the hostess to my table at the Cheesecake Factory pic.twitter.com/mhB6LKCIiF

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 8, 2021

In the following hours, Twitter users posted multiple viral memes which utilized the footage, using it as a reaction video, a GIF and as source material for edits. Following the viral spread of the meme, many news outlets reported on it, including collections by eBaum's World,^[1] Insider^[7] and BuzzFeed.^[8]

Various Examples

Me trying to find the bathroom at the club after 6 or 7 #PepsiHalftime #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/T2tleRUbR7

— Dj 112 (@DJ112sa) February 8, 2021

me immediately after someone gives me specific directions pic.twitter.com/XtAsYjHw91

— Alyssa Limperis (@alyssalimp) February 8, 2021

Trying to find the Ginza Line pic.twitter.com/oWpvmyEpJp

— вʟм | Ultima (@UltimaShadowX) February 8, 2021

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External References