You could be forgiven for having lost touch with Justin Bieber. The defining teen idol of the 2000s was discovered on YouTube, anointed by R&B stars Usher and Drake and enormously famous by his 16th birthday. But Biebs’ monumental fame as a floppy-haired, baby-faced singer presaged a difficult coming of age in the spotlight and a string of very 2010s controversies. (Who could forget Mally, the pet monkey seized by German customs in Munich in 2013?)
In recent years, Bieber has pivoted to more mature R&B, kept a lower profile and focused on his health and family. But his headlining sets at Coachella this month – collectively dubbed “Bieberchella” – have sparked a renewed appreciation for Bieber’s music and his turbulent path to becoming a respected pop elder.
Could the Bieberaissance be upon us? Here are eight reasons to Belieb.
1. He did YouTube karaoke at Coachella
Bieber’s Coachella performances were his first in four years, after health problems (notably Ramsay Hunt syndrome, causing facial paralysis) forced the cancellation of some of his Justice world tour in 2022. Hiding behind a laptop, wearing a hoodie and big sunglasses, Bieber seemed to keep as low a profile as possible while on stage, albeit performing to tens of thousands of people. But, “somehow, it worked” (to quote one review), by making his fragile reputation part of the show. In a set dominated by the adult contemporary stylings of his recent albums, Bieber also unexpectedly revisited Baby and more of his historical hits, playing the videos from YouTube on the big screen, leading the crowd in a singalong and harmonising with his younger self.
2. Bieberchella delivered nostalgia – and maybe closure
While reviews were generally mixed on Bieber’s first-weekend set, his second was found to be notably more confident. In the Atlantic, the critic Spencer Kornhaber likened Bieber to Tinkerbell, “restored to vitality by others’ attention”, and said that, in the higher-energy show, the YouTube interlude landed less like a cop-out and more like performance art, reflecting on digital culture and ageing online. Bieber even played Double Rainbow, one of the first viral videos, reflecting his status as one of the original and biggest internet-minted celebrities. On stage, Bieber acknowledged the many challenges and “ups and downs” of his years “on full display”, but found the silver lining in his supporters. “The beautiful thing about this journey is that we all kind of grew up together, you know?”
3. He made Billie Eilish’s week
A highlight of the week-two show was Bieber pulling an unsuspecting crowd member on to the stage to be serenaded with his 2009 single One Less Lonely Girl. The punter was none other than Billie Eilish. Although now a successful pop star herself, Eilish is well known to have been a Bieber superfan in her youth and has credited him with inspiring her to pursue music. Bieber has said that he feels protective of Eilish: “I don’t want her to go through anything I went through.”
4. Beauty and a Beat remains a banger
The conversation and coverage around Bieberchella, with the sets livestreamed, has resurrected Bieber’s back catalogue. According to Billboard, streams of his songs nearly tripled in the week inclusive of his first Coachella set, leading four songs to place on the Hot 100, including his breakout 2010 single, Baby. Meanwhile, Beauty and a Beat – Bieber’s 2012 hit with Nicki Minaj, an iron-clad classic for many millennials and older gen Zs – has spent more than a week at the top of the global Spotify and Apple charts. Spotify marked 20 years this week and revealed Bieber as the seventh-most-streamed artist in its history; over Coachella, streams of his music reportedly jumped by 210%.
5. He’s spreading the faith, hallelujah
Intensely capitalistic, Instagram-centric Coachella might seem far from heaven – but Bieber, a proud Christian, sought to spread God’s light to the godless desert with his performance of Everything Hallelujah. The acoustic ballad, from his latest album, Swag II, celebrates the holiness of the everyday and includes the memorable line: “Brush my teeth, hallelujah.”
“No other artist we saw at Coachella performed a full worship song,” noted one Christian attender, declaring Bieber’s set “a prophecy … fulfilled”. The performance has inspired a TikTok trend where users list the things they are grateful for, such as “fajitas hallelujah” and “antipsychotics hallelujah”. Some, less earnestly, are posting to find the good in things they could do without, such as “body dysmorphia hallelujah” and “mental breakdowns hallelujah”. Olivia Rodrigo has also jumped on the trend to promote her new single, Drop Dead.
6. And he’s shifting a lot of hoodies
Bieber was reportedly Coachella’s highest-paid headliner ever (hallelujah), with a rumoured fee of $10m, apparently justified by unprecedented demand for tickets. Those are not the only records he broke. Bieber’s clothing label, Skylrk, reported a colossal $15m (£11m) in merchandise sales, smashing the festival’s previous record of $1.7m. Bootleggers are already trying to get in on the Bieber fever, with T-shirts reading “Bieberchella” listed for sale on Etsy. Coachella, meanwhile, is out of pocket by a further $40,000, having been fined for Bieber’s set breaking curfew.
7. Both Biebers are standing on business
Bieber and his wife, Hailey (née Baldwin, daughter of Stephen and niece of Alec), have been quick to cement the success of Bieberchella with their brands. As the founder and face of the Rhode beauty company (which sold to Elf Beauty last year for $1bn), Hailey launched a new line of acne patches (or “spotwear”) just before the festival, in colours coordinated with her husband’s streetwear brand, which was promoted by Bieber on Instagram.
Brand strategists, at least, have been inspired by the couple’s commercial coordination, describing the Biebers as a “true unicorn pairing in the attention economy”. They also have a child, Jack Blues Bieber, born in August 2024.
8. Bieber is a pop elder
Bieberchella has already been hailed as one of 2026’s defining pop-culture moments. There is also a sense that it’s just nice to see him doing well after long, public periods of struggle. “You gave us your whole life … People have taken and taken from you, but never once have you become like them,” said the rapper Big Sean while performing with Bieber at Coachella. Justin Timberlake posted a throwback picture of himself with Bieber, expressing pride in his “long road”.
For true Beliebers, the response seals their idol’s long redemption arc. The Coachella buzz even reached Bieber’s home town of Stratford, Ontario. “His legacy is undeniable,” said Kelly McIntosh, the managing director of the local museum, which has had a dedicated Bieber exhibit since 2018. “And I think that performance at Coachella just proves that this is now a new iteration of Justin. This is Justin, the man, the father.”