Justin Bieber's 2026 Coachella performance left fans with mixed reactions.
Image: X.
Did Justin Bieber really perform or was he just doomscrolling on Youtube and singing along to his old songs?
The multi-award winning singer, is making headlines following his Coachella performance on Saturday, April 11.
Bieber’s late‑night set featured 34 songs spanning his early hits through his more recent albums, “Swag” and “Swag II".
For the majority of his time on stage, he remained seated at a computer, playing a series of his old music videos on YouTube as well as some of his videos that went viral in the past or turned into memes including the “it’s not clocking to you” video.
He started with his 2021 hit "Baby", letting the music video play for about a minute before quickly switching to other older songs, repeating this pattern of brief playbacks.
Throughout a large part of this segment, Bieber provided live vocals, singing along with the videos.
As a headliner for weekend one of Coachella, many fans were expecting more from the pop icon. I mean, it’s Bieber after all.
They criticised his performance because Coachella is quite expensive to just go see someone perform sitting down or doing karaoke to his own songs.
@MovesLikeRoy shared: “Not Justin Bieber scammed Coachella out of $10 million to play songs off of YouTube.”
@SwiftyRuza wrote: “I’m crying this might actually be the worst performance I’ve ever seen. He’s literally just playing music videos from YouTube… zero effort, just pure laziness.”
But some of his fans were happy with this “subpar” performance because to them, it felt like he was connecting with them.
Many explained that it felt like "chilling with an old friend listening to your favourite songs together", which they deemed "authentic".
They further defended him sharing that you don’t need a high production set or numerous outfit changes to deliver a good show.
@EverydayResell commented: “This is fire. That chill laptop vibe where the crowd dictates the set list on his classics is brilliant. People stirring up outrage are just hinting clicks with forced drama.”
@realtorpamela1 added: “Justin showed up without outfit changes, backup singers and dancers. He gave his fans what they wanted. He gave them an experience that was raw, intimate and unique. We loved it.”
His performance however, was not just him doomscrolling on YouTube because he brought other artists on stage including Nigerian artists, Tems and Wizkid who performed “Essence”.
Bieber also performed “STAY” with The Kid Laroi.