AILSA CHANG, HOST:
OK, people are talking about Justin Bieber again - not that people ever stopped talking about Justin Bieber. But until the Grammys this year, he had not performed in public since he canceled a tour back in 2022. That's a long time for a pop star who was once seemingly everywhere. So it was a big deal for him to headline the Coachella Music Festival on Saturday night. The show was also livestreamed online, and it's how Bieber performed that has got people talking now. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento joins us now to break it all down for us. Hi, Isabella.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK. So can you just describe for us - what was the performance like?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: It was a very minimal performance, which is super different from what we've come to expect at Coachella or from a pop star like Bieber. There were kind of three main sections to his performance. There was a stripped-down set from his latest double album, "Swag II." There was an acoustic performance that really let his dedication to his faith and his family shine. And then came the controversial part of his performance. He pulled out his laptop, and he played a bunch of YouTube videos.
CHANG: Yeah.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Some of them were viral memes, and some were videos for his older hits, like the song "Baby." Bieber harmonized with his younger self onstage.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JUSTIN BIEBER: (Singing) Said, there's another and looked right in my eyes. My first love broke my heart for the first time, and I was like baby, baby, baby, ooh.
CHANG: (Singing) Baby, baby, baby.
Sorry (laughter).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah. Exactly. No, and he also played his own YouTube videos from 2008, when he covered R&B songs by artists like Ne-Yo and Chris Brown. And again, onstage at Coachella, he sang along. You can really hear how much his voice has changed since he started.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BIEBER: (Singing) 'Cause with every kiss and every hug, you make me fall in love. And now I know I can't be the only one.
CHANG: Oh, my God. It's like another human on tape.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah. And, you know, a lot of people forget that Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube with these very videos, so it was a very full circle moment for him.
CHANG: Yeah. OK, and that's a part - you know, that's a part that some people are calling a low-key performance or a low-effort performance. What do you make of all this talk about that?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Well, I think a big part of this is just how expensive it is to go to Coachella. People spend thousands of dollars to be there, so, you know, they expect to be wowed. Frank Ocean did a similarly stripped-down headlining set a few years ago, and he got the same kind of backlash. But when it comes to Bieber, I think expectations were very high, and he totally subverted them by sitting on his computer and basically doomscrolling.
CHANG: (Laughter).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: But, you know, it's an interesting choice precisely because of his digital footprint. I mean, Justin Bieber is 32 years old, but he's been going viral for nearly two decades. He did spend a lot of his early years doing, you know, flashy concerts with choreography and these massive tours, and he's totally grown up in the spotlight. It seems like that's taken a big toll on him. He's had public scandals. He's had health issues. So I think after spending a few years off the stage, it's powerful to watch him perform on his own terms for himself and for his day one fans. It's like he's reframing his fame, his career and his talent in real time.
CHANG: So you liked it. OK, so what do you think this says about where Justin Bieber wants to go from here? Like, what do you think he was trying to say?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: My interpretation is that he wants to go back to the music, and he wants full autonomy over what that looks like. You know, he did a similar stripped-down performance at this year's Grammy's. He was shirtless, alone with a guitar and the focus was all on his voice.
And at the same time, he's been making interesting choices behind the scenes. He sold his catalog in 2023. Rolling Stone reported that he negotiated his own Coachella deal without an agent, which is kind of unheard of. So it really seems like, at this point in his career, Justin Bieber is shedding some of the baggage of child stardom and trying to be, like, reborn.
CHANG: That is NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Thank you so much, Isabella.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Thank you, Ailsa.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAISIES")
BIEBER: (Singing) Throwin' petals like, do you love me or not? Head is spinnin' (ph), and it don't know when to stop. 'Cause you said forever, babe, did you mean it or not? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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