As the first half of the Coachella music festival revved up over the weekend, two Justins, both coincidentally Canadian, made headlines.
Justin Trudeau at Coachella
Just over a year ago, Justin Trudeau made the announcement that he would be resigning as Canada’s prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party.
Fast-forward a year and he’s at Coachella with Katy Perry.
Quite the turnaround.
It looks like they had fun, though.
According to ABC News, the pair dressed for the moment, complete with T-shirts, jeans and boots. Trudeau even sported a backward cap.
It appears the pair did most of their communicating via social media posts.
Justin Bieber’s Coachella set
After a four-year break hiatus from performing to prioritize health and family, Justin Bieber took the Coachella stage around 11 p.m. Saturday night for a nearly 90-minute show.
“To be up close and personal with y’all is special. It’s been a dream of mine to perform here,” Bieber said on stage, according to reports.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Bieber’s performance may have drawn in the largest Coachella crowd ever.
After performing several hit songs from his newly released albums, “Swag” and “Swag II,” he sat at a desk with a laptop, sharing his screen to play (only parts of), and sing along with, some of his most iconic old hits directly from YouTube.
No backup singers or dancers, no drums, no guitar. Literally just the YouTube search bar.
It’s fitting, however, as Bieber first rose to fame by posting covers on YouTube, some of which he played on stage.
While true Beliebers loved this, others criticized this move—largely because his $10 million payout set a new Coachella record, per Rolling Stone.
Katy Perry joked that she was just glad Bieber had YouTube Premium so she, Trudeau, and the thousands of others in the crowd didn’t have to sit through ads.
Apart from his classics like “Baby” and “Never Say Never,” Bieber did get a bit sidetracked, showing old videos of him falling through a stage, hitting his head on a revolving glass door, and even the double rainbow video from 2010.
“To call his performance lacking in effort is a shallow read,” wrote Reanna Cruz for Vulture, New York Magazine’s pop culture site.
“Bieber spent the entirety of his set confronting the idea of both his own celebrity and the concept of digital fame as a whole,” Cruz continued.
What’s next for Justin Bieber?
“Between headlining Coachella and the success of Swag, it’s clear this is the start of an exciting new era for Justin — one where he’s fully in the driver’s seat,” an insider told Rolling Stone.
As of right now, the second weekend of Coachella, April 17-19, is Bieber’s only planned show in 2026.
That could certainly change, but nothing has been announced yet.
The Ontario native has not toured since January 2022.
Given that Bieber was literally scrolling through YouTube to find his own tracks during Weekend 1, it’s clear he’s ditching the traditional setlist.
It’ll be fascinating to see which deep cuts he “searches” for during Part 2 of his Coachella appearance this coming weekend.
Social media reacts to Coachella
What is Coachella?
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is one of the world’s biggest and most influential annual festivals.
It takes place during two consecutive weekends in April and features dozens of artists across multiple stages.
An estimated 250,000 people attend and tickets typically sell out in minutes.
The festival is a cultural phenomenon, with a huge emphasis on fashion and social media.
The Deseret News previously reported that Coachella has become a major platform for fashion trends, with A-listers and influencers using the event as a runway to showcase bold, experimental styles.