The Justin Bieber Performance That Healed Me

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Coachella (@coachella)

As Coachella weekend one kicked off last week, Saturday saw thousands upon thousands of fans flock to the festival’s mainstage to see one of the most anticipated performances of the weekend, Bieberchella.

This was Justin Bieber’s first live performance in the iconic festival, and the first time we have seen him perform live since 2022 where he sang to thousands of fans at the Rock in Rio festival. Since that time, Justin has been through a lot, from two new hit albums, a baby and public controversies, so there was a lot riding on this next major performance.

With new fans excited to hear songs like Devotion and Daisies live, OG beliebers were holding out hope that his old discography would be played for that nostalgia feeling. All in all, the expectations for this performance were huge.

@juzztbiebs STAR #justinbieber #daisies #bieberchella #coachella ♬ sonido original – juzztbiebs

And as we know with great expectations comes great responsibility. For many that responsibility was for Bieber to deliver a live performance full of nostalgic hits to relive our fan girl teenage days, while others expected a Sabrina Carpenter level performance, with strong attention to production detail… and for Justin to possibly come out wearing the iconic white denim two piece with a purple hoodie.

His performance kicked off at around 11:25pm California time, or 7:30am Irish time for fans like me eagerly awaiting to livestream the performance. The show opened with Justin walking around the oval shaped stage, wearing a hot pink Skylrk hoodie paired with long slung shorts, sunglasses and boots.

The stage held just him, singing and dancing around as he opened the set with All I Can Take from his latest Swag album, completely paired back, no bells and whistles. The set continued with Go Baby as he sang to his loving wife Hailey Bieber, model and founder of Rhode beauty. The pair seemed in love as ever, with Hailey proudly smiling back at him.

We saw more songs from the new album before Australian singer/rapper, The Kid Laroi joined Justin on stage to sing Stay, where Justin appeared happy as ever singing and bopping around.

@universalmusic_austria JB PERFORMING ‘BABY’ IN THE BIG 2026?! crashing out watching this livestream @Justin Bieber #coachella2026 #bieberchella #justinbieber ♬ Originalton – Universal Music Austria

After this the stage was met with a stand, MacBook and a glass ash tray where Justin sat down before logging on to YouTube and searching up his major hit song, Baby. The crowd erupted as Justin dueted the song with younger self behind him projected onto the big screen. Justin continued to look up his OG hits from Favorite Girl, That Should Be Me, Confident and Never Say Never.

A truly heartfelt moment occurred when the singer searched for his cover of With You before turning around to look at his past self while singing to a crowd. During this YouTube time, Justin also looked up some of his viral moments including when he fell off stage at his concert and walked straight into a glass door.

After his performance, X was something similar to a modern wild west, with comments flooding in on the disappointment of his performance. Many people online called the performance lazy, disappointed and phoned in. One X user wrote “The way Justin Bieber is just doing Karaoke to his own songs at Coachella. I am so disappointed”, while another said “Justin Bieber supposedly got paid ten million dollars to sing at Coachella only to show clips on a laptop.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Hailey Rhode Bieber (@haileybieber)

Some fans were extremely critical with the lack of visuals, and back up dancers for this performance, and said that if Sabrina Carpenter or Chappell Roan did a performance like this, everyone would be up in arms over it, making a valid point about sexism in the music industry. However, some fans of the singer said that they would actually enjoy something like this.

Was this performance extremely paired back, even in comparison to some lower budget productions? Yes. But was it also incredible to see? Absolutely. While some might see a lazy and unbothered performance, for many of us Bieber fans, this was a healing experience, not just for the fans but for Justin too.

Justin has been in this game for two decades now, doing his fair share of flashy live shows and performances, and dealing with invasive paparazzi and cruel rumours about his personal life. He has also been very open and honest about how the industry affected him and the reasons he turned to drugs and alcohol.

@michellekate88 Crying real tears right now #fyp #justinbieber #coachella #withyou @Justin Bieber ♬ original sound – Michellekate88

After dealing with all of that, to see him there performing songs from his new album, and genuinely look happy, was incredible to see.

After so many years of hiding away from his past, the YouTube segment, which is what critics disapproved of the most, was really special. It showed Justin wasn’t afraid to look to that side of his life again, and instead embraced it. Going on to YouTube at Coachella felt like a homage to his younger self, since that is where it all began for him.

Not only did the audience at Coachella feel the intimacy of the performance, but I, watching at home felt it too. If he was up there dancing about with a full crew behind him, with flashing lights, we wouldn’t have felt so closed and connected, something that I think Justin needed to feel, to know that his fans haven’t gone away even after all these years.

Bieberchella you will also be famous to me. Thank you for letting the younger me feel like a fan girl again!