The Weeknd Actually Did Have A Familiar Guest Involved With His Super Bowl Halftime Show

The Super Bowl halftime show often features guests aside from the headlining performers. That wasn’t the case this year, as The Weeknd said in an interview before the show, “I’ve been reading a lot of rumors. I wouldn’t bet on it. There wasn’t any room to fit it in the narrative, in the story I was telling in the performance. So yeah, there’s no special guests.”

While there were no guests on stage, though, a familiar After Hours collaborator was heavily involved in the making of the show: Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never. Warp Records, Lopatin’s label, shared a photo of him and The Weeknd backstage at the game and wrote, “Congrats @0PN musical director of @theweeknd’s halftime show.”

Lopatin of course had a huge role in bringing After Hours to life as well. He is credited as a writer and producer on multiple tracks, including “Scared To Live” and “Until I Bleed Out.” He also re-worked “Save Your Tears” for an After Hours remix EP. Before After Hours, the two also both worked on the film Uncut Gems, with The Weeknd playing himself in a cameo role and Lopatin scoring the movie.

Check out our timeline of The Weeknd’s After Hours look here.