Every Coachella there seems to be a talking point that gets social media a-jumping. In 2023 it was Frank Ocean’s late, truncated and altogether disappointing performance. The following year it was Damon Albarn’s strop about fans not singing along. In 2026 it seems it’s the contrast between Justin Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter’s respective headlining sets.
So... in summary: Carpenter pulled out all the stops on Friday night – we’re talking Hollywood/Sabrinawood-themed staging, with dancers, costume changes, fireworks, celebrity cameos from Susan Sarandon, Sam Elliott and Will Ferrell. The whole shebang.
A day later, Bieber shuffled on stage in baggy jeans and a vest and performed a set that drew heavily from last year’s Swag album and also featured old YouTube clips of himself, which he proceeded to sing along to (though he did also have guests in the shape of The Kid Laroi, Dijon, Tems and, on guitar, Mk.gee).
Vive la difference, then? Well, not according to many on social media who found Bieber’s performance lacklustre and contrasted the pay packets that each artist received (it's believed that Bieber was paid significantly more).
One wrote on Twitter/ X: “Female artists give full effort : flying, high notes, fireworks, outfits. meanwhile justin bieber, the most expensive coachella performer, just sits in a plain tee, plays youtube, no makeup, and still gets a pass? switch the roles and a woman would get dragged immediately.”
Content creator Wigconic, meanwhile, has spliced together excerpts from the two artists’ shows, apparently to display the relative amount of effort that went into each of them.
Swedish star Zara Larsson was another to give her take on Bieber's performance, posting a TikTok of her watching it, seemingly slightly bemused. She captioned the video "It's giving let's smoke and watch YouTube," which some interpreted as a diss, but she's since clarified that she wasn't "hating", but "vibing hardddddddddddddd.”
@zaralarsson He’s in my dream blunt rotation
♬ original sound - Zara Larsson
Her thought's on Carpenter's performance will have to wait, though: "I’m trying to not look at online because I wanna be wowed when I see it next week in person," she told a fan.
It's also worth saying that Bieber's performance has received support as well as criticism, with one fan saying: “A lot of people are calling it low energy or underwhelming. But for me it felt like the healthiest kind of comeback for Justino. He did not force a high-production machine that could burn him out again. Instead he sat with his past, scrolling through old YouTube videos, duetting with his younger self, and mixing nostalgia with new chapters.”
Another agreed: “Justin’s performance at Coachella was so much more than just music it was a full circle moment of healing. Watching him embrace his past and acknowledge that he finally has everything he ever wished for moved me to tears. I am so incredibly proud of his journey and the person.”
It perhaps comes down to the places they are at in their respective careers. Bieber is the senior artist and has sucked years more of the dizzying oxygen that is fame than Carpenter has. He perhaps feels he needs to present an image that is more grounded and ‘real’ (whatever that phrase means to him).
Carpenter, meanwhile, is still trying to prove that she has what it takes to remain an A-list artist long term, in what is undeniably a very crowded field. At this stage at least, she has to bring the wow factor like her career depends on it. Because, you know, perhaps it does.
