No, The Weeknd did not get surgery for a music video. He famously used elaborate facial prosthetics to alter his appearance for artistic purposes related to his music.
During the promotional cycle for his critically acclaimed album After Hours, and particularly in the music video for his hit song "Save Your Tears," Canadian singer Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, widely known as The Weeknd, appeared with a drastically altered face. This appearance, which included distorted features, drew significant attention and led to widespread speculation on social media platforms that he had undergone plastic surgery.
However, these claims were false. The musician was, in fact, wearing highly detailed prosthetics. This visual transformation was a deliberate artistic choice, an extension of the character he portrayed throughout the After Hours era, which explored themes of Hollywood excess, superficiality, and the darker side of fame. The prosthetics were designed to create a caricature of cosmetic surgery gone wrong, serving as a powerful visual metaphor within his narrative.
This commitment to his artistic vision extended beyond the music video, with The Weeknd appearing in character with the prosthetic makeup in public performances and during the Super Bowl LV halftime show, further cementing the visual storytelling of his album.
