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By Megan Armstrong

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Justin Bieber smiled. A lot.

He smiled and expressed gratitude between songs, but he also couldn't help but smile while singing. He couldn't contain and didn't want to hide his naturally occurring emotions.

The once-in-a-generation star has occupied stages for over half his life, and most recently headlined a stage of this magnitude for over 100,000 people at Brazil's Rock In Rio in 2022. But Bieber has never occupied any stage, let alone one of this magnitude, as he did during his debut Coachella headlining set on Saturday night.

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For 18 years, Bieber was trapped in a scrutinous fishbowl. He was told where to go, how to act, and who to be. Nearly four years ago, I was set to shadow Bieber for my former employer at his Justice World Tour show at Madison Square Garden, but he had to cancel due to Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The industry drilled him into the ground, literally and figuratively.

Since splitting with Scooter Braun, who discovered him on YouTube, and his management team, Bieber has reclaimed control over his life and voice.

These 90 minutes were his and only his to fulfill his lifelong dream as he saw fit.

Bieber ripped through songs from "SWAG," his Grammy-nominated album from last July, and "SWAG II," its surprise counterpart from last September. To start, Bieber walked around (or lay inside) a gigantic orb. All he needed was a mic and his hypnotizing vocals. All that stood between Bieber and the crowd was his pink SKYLRK hoodie flipped over his head.

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About a half hour in, he brought out "SWAG" producers Carter Lang and Dylan Wiggins for an acoustic set. His delicate, raw performance of "Everything Hallelujah" felt as spiritual as the song's title suggests. Of course, fans went wild when the camera panned to Hailey Bieber, his wife since 2018.

Bieber standing alone at the mic, giving himself fully over to an audience, harkened back to his roots as a preteen busker outside the Avon Theatre in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.

And if that was nostalgic, what happened next was a literal trip down memory lane.

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Bieber sat at a laptop and typed in his old hits, one by one, on YouTube, while the original videos projected onto the gargantuan screen behind him. It was a full-circle moment: the world's first YouTube global star creatively utilizing YouTube as his main surprise guest on music's most influential stage.

Bieber, now 32, dueted with different versions of his younger self.

The undiscovered 13-year-old covering "With You" in his bedroom. The burgeoning global phenomenon in his seminal "Baby" music video.

The 19-year-old who departed from the pop rat race to return to his R&B roots for "Journals." The spurned 20-something who authored a triumphant comeback with his "Purpose" album.

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On its face, it was simplistic. At one point, Bieber even started pulling up old videos of him running into a revolving door or falling off the stage during his Purpose World Tour, and some deep internet memes. As I lay in my bed well past 2 a.m., I felt as if my friend Justin had FaceTimed me from the Coachella stage.

Bieber's headline approach was starkly juxtaposed with Sabrina Carpenter's elaborately produced, theatrical (and excellent in her own right) headline set from Friday night. Those who flocked to Coachella Valley for the usual grandiose headlining spectacle may have been confused or underwhelmed. But fans who specifically came to see Justin Bieber were rewarded by being let in like never before.

Some critics ripped Bieber for forgetting he was on the Coachella stage while searching for videos, but that was sort of the point. He got lost in the moment because he was just living. Bieber is done competing. He's not trying to keep up with wherever the public's goalposts are today. The spectacle was his disregard for the performative.

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It shouldn't have been confusing to anyone who has paid attention to Bieber for the past two years, or to anyone who has followed what he's gone through for nearly two decades.

It couldn't have been surprising to anyone who just watched him shirtless, in just blue silk SKYLRK boxers and black SKYLRK socks, perform a stripped-back, looped performance of "YUKON" at the 2026 Grammys.

It definitely wasn't confusing to me, who watched Bieber's frequent Twitch streams last fall and winter. While streaming from his warehouse-turned-playground, Bieber and his friends had impromptu jam sessions, played sports, looked up funny YouTube videos, tried on new SKYLRK designs, and talked about existential subjects.

Bieber's debut Coachella headlining set felt like he let hundreds of thousands of people into that warehouse. The pristinely packaged pop star is gone because the person, who just so happens to sing his you-know-what off, endured and grew beyond it.

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During one of his Twitch streams in October, Bieber sat in a ball pit with Neima Khaila, his SKYLRK cohort, and Ron Abaekobe and asked, "Do you know about the pruning process? Hailey was telling me about the pruning process."

"The pruning process is the process of trimming or cutting away dead, overgrown, or unnecessary branches, leaves, or stems," Bieber said, emphasizing certain words and repeating the overall definition several times.

"It does ring true to me," he said.

On Saturday night in the desert, Bieber embodied that. He showed the world exactly who he is in his authentic way, draped in nothing but sheer honesty. It looked healing for him, but maybe it was something else. Maybe it was healing for us to witness what's waiting on the other side of letting go.

Bieber will return to Coachella's Main Stage to headline on Saturday, April 18.

See his full set list below.

1. "ALL I CAN TAKE"
2. "SPEED DEMON"
3. "FIRST PLACE"
4. "GO BABY"
5. "BUTTERFLIES"
6. "WALKING AWAY"
7. "ALL THE WAY"
8. "405"
9. "TOO LONG"
10. "PETTING ZOO"
11. "I DO"
12. "STAY" (with The Kid Laroi)
13. "THINGS YOU DO"
14. "GLORY VOICE MEMO"
15. "ZUMA HOUSE"
16. "DOTTED LINE"
17. "EVERYTHING HALLELUJAH"
18. "Baby"
19. "Favorite Girl"
20. "That Should Be Me"
21. "Beauty and a Beat"
22. "Never Say Never"
23. "Confident"
24. "All That Matters"
25. "With You" (Chris Brown cover)
26. "So Sick" (Ne-Yo cover)
27. "Sorry"
28. "Where Are Ü Now"
29. "I'm the One"
30. "YUKON"
31. "DEVOTION" (with Dijon)
32. "I THINK YOU'RE SPECIAL" (with Tems)
33. "Essence" (with Tems and Wizkid)
34. "DAISIES" (with Mk.gee)

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