Months before the NFL announced the Weeknd as this year's Super Bowl LV halftime performer, the award-winning artist was making headlines for all sorts of musical accomplishments, including shattering records for his smash hit "Blinding Lights." But moreover, the Weeknd, whose birth name is Abel Tesfaye, was getting buzz for his appearance, particularly when the singer showed up to both the American Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards last year with what appeared to be a bruised and bloodied face. Take a look:

los angeles, california november 22 in this image released on november 22, the weeknd accepts the award for favorite soulrb song onstage for the 2020 american music awards at microsoft theater on november 22, 2020 in los angeles, california photo by kevin wintergetty images for dcp
Kevin Winter
new york, new york august 30 the weeknd attends the 2020 mtv video music awards, broadcast on sunday, august 30, 2020 in new york city photo by kevin mazurmtv vmas 2020getty images for mtv
Kevin Mazur/MTV VMAs 2020

As if that wasn't jarring enough, the Weeknd's fans were even more surprised when the artist shared an Instagram of himself on January 5 looking as though he had undergone facial plastic surgery. The photo was posted in coordination with the release of the new music video for his single "Save Your Tears."

Despite growing concern about the Weeknd's face, multiple outlets have confirmed that the singer hasn't actually gone under the knife or sustained any serious facial injuries. Instead, he's been using prosthetics and makeup to tell the dark and twisted story embedded in his 2019 album After Hours.

Those familiar with the songs on the album know that the storyline follows a man's descent into madness while chasing excess and happiness in all the wrong places.

In a new interview with Variety, the Weeknd elaborated on his reason for performing in bandages. "The significance of the entire head bandages is reflecting on the absurd culture of Hollywood celebrity and people manipulating themselves for superficial reasons to please and be validated," he explained.

As for why he decided to change his appearance to promote After Hours, the Weeknd said, "I suppose you could take that being attractive isn’t important to me but a compelling narrative is."

Months ago, the Weeknd appeared to be telling the beginning of his album's tale with his fake bruises and bandaged face. Now, with the release of the "Save Your Tears" video, the story takes us to what his character's face looks like post-surgery.

To achieve his facial transformations, The Cut reports that the Weeknd enlisted the help of Prosthetic Renaissance — a.k.a. the same group who works on Heidi Klum's famous Halloween costumes each year. Even before After Hours was released, the Weeknd told GQ about his affinity for eerie films and his desire to create what the outlet called "cinematically lush, strange fantasy worlds." Temporarily altering his face in the name of art appears to be one way of doing just that.

Despite the Weeknd's recent use of prosthetics, the artist ditched the props and makeup when shooting a promotion for his Super Bowl LV halftime show — a decision possibly hinting that he'll perform as himself for the big game. That said, it's anyone's guess whether the Weeknd will later resurrect the prosthetics or surprise us all with other theatrical elements.