The Weeknd Running Through Hallways: The Super Bowl Meme That Keeps Giving

The Weeknd’s 2021 Super Bowl halftime performance gave birth to the iconic “hallway meme,” capturing the singer frantically navigating mirrored tunnels. This meme exploded across platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Reddit, symbolizing chaos, confusion, and the universal feeling of being lost.

From hilarious captions to creative mashups, the meme’s versatility and relatability have made it a timeless piece of internet culture. This article dives into its origins, emotional resonance, viral spread, and why it stands out among celebrity memes.

1. What Is the Weeknd Running Through the Hallways Meme?

What the Meme Looks Like and How It’s Used

In 2021, The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) performed at Super Bowl LV. The now-famous Weeknd hallway meme emerged from his halftime show when he ran through a disorienting maze of mirrored hallways, shot with a shaky handheld camera.

The clip featured the Weeknd rapidly turning his head like a confused pinball, surrounded by cramped hallways, and it frequently suits the vibe of chaotic or confusing moments.

Users on social media began sharing the Weeknd hallway meme to add humor to situations like when they get lost in a parking lot, rush to find a friend in a crowd at an event, or face some overwhelming moment in life.

A key part of how well the meme has spread and been used is its raw energy — whether it is GIFed on Twitter or a TikTok skit, the shaky clip captures frantic motion well, and anyone who’s felt out of place can see themselves as The Weeknd.

Is This the Most Chaotic Celebrity Meme to Come Out of a Live Performance?

Few memes capture the universal feeling of disorientation as vividly as The Weeknd’s hallway run.

Unlike static images like “Confused Travolta,” this meme’s cinematic quality—complete with dizzying camera work and The Weeknd’s bewildered expression—gives it a unique edge. It’s not just a still image; it’s a living, breathing moment of chaos that feels like a scene from a psychological thriller.

This dynamic energy makes it arguably the most chaotic celebrity meme from a live performance, as it mirrors the frenetic pace of real-life confusion.

2. Where Did the Meme Come From?

Super Bowl LV Halftime Show (2021)

The Weeknd played at the Super Bowl LV halftime show in Tampa, Florida on February 7, 2021. It was colorful and theatrical overall, but the highlight came when he went into a segment where he was exploring a maze-like labyrinth of mirrored tunnels, illuminated by golden lights.

There was a handheld camera capturing his erratic movements, showing him looking confused as he turned down a corner and at the looked at the tunnel around him. But it was one brief clip, where he made facial expressions that could be described as frantic and lost, that became the basis of the meme.

According to Billboard, the artistic choice was supposed to have a surreal, inward feeling, but instead started a viral moment.

Timeline of Meme Explosion

As soon as it appeared, the meme took off, with Twitter users posting screenshots and clips with captions that noted the absurdity of it all.

As of the end of the night, the phrase “#WeekndMeme” was trending, per CNN, and en masse TikTok creators began to overlay the clip with sound effects or reenact it with POV-style videos.

Within the Reddit thread, particularly in r/memes and r/NFL channels, the spread continued- users posted edited versions mere moments later, and by the day after, the meme had solidified itself into online culture.

3. What the Meme Emotionally and Humorously Symbolizes

Panic, Confusion, and Searching for Answers

The Weeknd hallway meme connects with us because it simulates that gut feeling of not knowing where you are, like you are lost in a manic sense, both bodily and mentally.

It mimics the experience of walking around a mall parking garage aimlessly looking for your car or trying to find your friend in a crowded bar.

The meme conjures a feeling of exaggerated panic, making it a usable substitute for in-the-moment feelings of chaos, like when you miss a deadline, or you are struggling to use an extremely confusing website.

Part of its broad appeal is that so much of the moment can translate representation (the performance) into an experience we all relate to as humans (not knowing where we are).

Comedy in Disorientation

The genre of comedy comes from the juxtaposition between The Weeknd’s poised performance at halftime during the Super Bowl and the frantic and agitated body language seen in the hallway.

The Weeknd, a global superstar and routinely an authority figure, seems helpless and comedic. The drastically different tones amplify the comedy, especially given that it gives audiences the pleasure of seeing a celebrity in an unfiltered, dislocating moment that approaches being grotesquely relatable.

The handheld-camera and mirrored elements of the hallway amplify the dislocation and are ripe for comedy.

4. Funniest Meme Captions and Cultural Adaptations

Classic Captions

The Weeknd hallway meme has inspired countless captions that amplify its humor. Some fan favorites include:

• “Me trying to find my mom in the grocery store.”

• “When you walk into the wrong Zoom breakout room.”

• “Looking for the waiter who said ‘I’ll be right back with your ranch.’”

These captions, often shared on Twitter and Instagram, highlight the meme’s ability to capture everyday struggles with a comedic twist. A BuzzFeed compilation of top captions showcases how users have tailored the meme to their own experiences.

Variants and Mashups

The meme has transformed creatively beyond just captions. TikTok users have indeed voiced over the video, adding fake panic screams or emphasizing dramatic music, making everything seem so chaotic.

Others have clipped the hallway video into a multiframe meme, using it with other viral images like “Distracted Boyfriend.” And on Reddit, users in r/memes have even created skits/truths where the hallway video can represent anything from job interviews to tech support calls.

The meaning becomes fresh while still allowing for flexible adaptations.

5. Why This Meme Stands Out Among Performance Memes

Live-Action Energy with Meme Potential

The Weeknd’s hallway meme works because it presents genuine confusion in real time, on a world stage. It isn’t a staged photo or built moment of passion – its unedited existence makes virality possible.

Definitely the moving image combined with a facial expression and a confusing location gives it a “perfect storm” of meme potentials. The “live chaos” in the video, as noted by Vulture, helps distinguish it from more typical static celebrity memes.

The Weeknd’s Role in Internet Culture

Before the facet that The Weeknd was washed, The Weeknd was already a meme machine due to his aesthetic-driven live performances. The music for “Save Your Tears” that provided some downright bonkers pieces of face prosthetics already created a few moments that went viral.

The hallway meme confirms that he is an internet culture noise magnet — allowing fans to have fun in the way they use this idea for internet humor, I often wonder if The Weeknd appreciates the comments about him and enjoys them.

6. Comparison to Other Celebrity Meme Moments

Related Formats

The Weeknd’s meme phenomenon sits just inside a long history of bewildered celebrity memes like “Confused Travolta” from the 2014 Oscars, or Lady Gaga’s theatrically absurd entrances each year for the Met Gala.

Beyoncé’s intense Super Bowl performance stares also became meme-fodder. They are all linked by the same thread; candid, unexpected reactions from polished entertainers that resonate with everyday viewers.

Why the Hallway Clip Became Timeless

The hallway clip, unlike single-frame memes, is adaptable in that the motion and disorientation of the video means that it can mean many things.

The clip can depict anything from forgetting your lines in a presentation to trying to get through a crowded music festival. The utility of the clip means that it can fit in many different contexts, from sports moments, to tech fails.

7. Will the Meme Stay Relevant?

Keeps Coming Back In Situations Of Events Or Confusion

The Weeknd hallway meme is based on the chaos that we all contextualize at fragmented cultural moments such as the toughest of times, award shows, sports games, and tech mistakes (i.e. Zoom going down).

The meme shall always be repurposed and stay in circulation typically when new events cause confusion because they encompass a universal sense of disorientation.

Meme Legacy

The Weeknd hallway clip is undoubtedly one of the most prominent Super Bowl memes of the moment and has earned tangible space within digital culture.

The potential to interpret everything from skits to articles to social media tags means that the meme will carry on as long as there is a creative mind wanting to reinterpret it.

Its meme legacy remains the ability to contextualize a superstar’s moment of chaos in a manner that makes it feel like everyone’s moment of chaos.

Conclusion

The Weeknd’s hallway meme, born from a surreal Super Bowl moment, has become a cultural touchstone. Its frantic energy, universal relatability, and endless adaptability have kept it alive across platforms.

From TikTok skits to Twitter captions, the meme captures the chaos of everyday life with humor and heart. As long as people feel lost or overwhelmed, The Weeknd running through hallways will remain a timeless internet gem.