And I wasn't even a pop fan, much less a Bieber fan as a kid! Actively disliked him, as a supposed "cool kid". Just happened to be 9 in 2009. That was just the pop culture of the time, wasn't it? I mean, even my mum knows Justin Bieber. My mum doesn't know anyone. You forget just how huge Bieber was.

He looks happier and more at peace now. You also forget/didn't realise, being caught up in the narrative about him being an annoying teen acting out and all that, that he was genuinely failed by the industry. So many adults who should've known better let him down. So many adults who should've taken care of him, let him instead take the fall.

So I'm glad he was able to go away and take some time away from the industry and come back on his own terms. And that people waited, and when he returned, they were right back here for him. And the fact that his first time back, he went straight to the top. Headline at Coachella. Not 6 pm, not a lowkey evening slot. Headline.

I also wondered just who exactly Justin Bieber's fans were now. He'd taken a little break, which means Gen Z any younger than me were barely around for Bieber 1.0. By the time they were forming their music taste on their own, in the last 5-10 years, Justin hasn't really been the top concern for kids listening to pop music. There's a new generation of pop stars in his absence. Younger ones, from the generation that their fans tend to be: whatever is the youngest. Gen Z, maybe even Gen Alpha.

Are they the millennials that were teens in the late 00s that were hit, like me, with the sudden full force of nostalgia and memories and realised the weight of this guy on the 2000s, of songs like Baby, of the beginnings of the YouTube era of stars?

Because I realise now, that as much as in my head, Justin Bieber is bunched together forever with a generation of stars like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers, probably others I'm forgetting now, Justin was not a Disney kid. Justin Bieber did not have the backing of a not-yet-dying prime time cable television network pushing him. He had the new media. Justin Bieber WAS YouTube music, long before YouTube Music was a thing. He was the beginning. He was the successor to the MySpace kids, the Arctic Monkeys of his generation in a way.

Justin Bieber WAS new media.

And that's what makes moments like this one so powerful:

Bieber pulling up the music video to Baby and singing along, his now-cropped hair contrasting that old fringe, one of the most recognisable faces of the late 2000s, a video most of us might remember watching when the YouTube interface looked very different. No dark mode, no Material UI. No Coachella livestream either, for that matter, and a very different Coachella.

Bieber was YouTube's child, YouTube made him, and he returned the favour tonight, and it hit me like a train. The passage of time, man.

(Sorry the gifs aren't particularly brightened or colour-corrected and otherwise prettied up: I was just hit with such strong emotion, I felt compelled to write but it IS 3:50 AM. I was watching David Byrne until nearly 3, and then for some reason decided to keep the Main Stage stream running as I wound down the night and got into bed. Felt like I should at least glimpse what's going on Bieber-wise. CanCon. I felt some duty as an onlooker of Canadian music.)

So there we have it. Justin Bieber's comeback, which in my eyes, was successful. It showed growth. It showed maturity. It showed a person that had taken the time away and was finally in control of his own life. He was doing things on his own terms.

Justin stood alone on one of the biggest stages in the world. Usually, popstars have an elaborate stage set-up, many structures to climb, sets meant to evoke a location, props for the audience to look at so they don't have to look expectantly at the star all the time. Give them some room to breathe.

Justin has never had the room to breathe. The press, the world, was in his face, staring expectantly during his worst moments. He's not afraid of people looking at him. He can stand alone and take it all— now on his own terms. It was just him.

Just him and his laptop.

And when he finally did bring out some semblance of a band, it was stripped down, acoustic and heartfelt.

And it worked. Justin Bieber is back.

I could hear the people screaming. I heard a woman's voice, so clear that I could make out the words even without a mic turned towards the audience, shout "te amo!" Guess Justin Bieber never really lost people's hearts. Long may Justin 2.0 last and reign supreme.

And now, at 4:06 AM, I will indeed sign off my spontaneous, emotionally-motivated review of Bieberchella, weekend 1. Can't believe I'm putting a 4 AM review in the magazine. But it feels fitting! So have fun and goodnight!