The 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Act Has Twitter Blowing Up

Are you psyched up for the first big holiday of 2021? No, we're not talking about New Year's Day, since that always comes as kind of an anticlimax, a major holiday that's pretty much eclipsed by the night before. No, we're talking about the Super Bowl, of course. Do we have any idea which two teams will be playing? Nope, not a clue. What we do know is: there will be parties. There will be beer. There will be wings. There may even be some over-the-top snack stadiums. There should also be a new crop of entertaining and/or controversial commercials, plus there will be one heck of a halftime show.

And speaking of that halftime show, we also now know which entertainer will be performing on the field in front of... well, we're not sure how many fans will be allowed in the stadium itself, but there should be tens of millions watching the show on TV. Oh, the entertainer, you ask? Before getting lost in any further digression, allow us to break the news. It will be none other than Ariana Grande's duet partner, The Weeknd.

The NFL tweeted earlier today an announcement that The Weeknd, a Canadian crooner who's earned millions but still can't buy a vowel, would be the next Super Bowl halftime performer. As The New York Times points out, this selection is in keeping with a recent push to turn away from classic rock acts (read: old white dudes) to people of color. After all, this worked out pretty well last year with a halftime show featuring J. Lo, Shakira, Bad Bunny, and a pre-Mickey D's J Balvin.

As with just about every subject under the sun, Twitter's reaction to this news was mixed. Some greeted the announcement with glee, commenting "Finally some good f***in music is about to be played during the superbowl" and "Ya quierooooo." Others, however, grumbled, with one Twitter user complaining "terrible pop band, nobody listens to pop music anymore" and another saying "I have literally no idea who that is." Still another Twitter user clapped back at the complainers, saying: "Here comes all the people over 35 wondering who this is and why they couldn't get a washed up band like Metallica to play when we're nearly in 2021." One response, however, was pretty bipartisan: "Another year where they did not get a rock band [sad faces] but hey the weeknd is pretty talented." So even if you're not a fan of his, keep an open mind. Who knows, you might like what you hear!