Justin Bieber took the concept of the ‘stripped-down’ performance to a whole new level at last night’s Grammy Awards ceremony. Not only did he take to the stage alone, but he also did so in just his underwear.
The effect was certainly striking - a man demonstrating his vulnerability, both audibly and visually - but this was no unplugged acoustic jam. Bieber emerged to sing Yukon (from his 2025 album, Swag) with a 1988 Yamaha RGX 612S electric guitar strapped to his back, which he had plugged into a Neural DSP Quad Cortex.
There was also a looper involved, and up on a stand an Akai MPC Live III, which the former squeaky-clean teen heartthrob prodded at to provide bass.
Granted, this wasn’t the most technically impressive one-man show, but it was a compelling spectacle, and there was plenty of praise for Bieber’s vocals, too. These were sung naturally rather than pitched-up, as they are on the original recording.
Yukon was nominated for Best R&B Performance at the 2026 Grammys (one of four nominations for Bieber), but lost out to Kelani’s Folded. One of the song’s writers and producers was experimental R&B artist Dijon, who also had a Grammy nod in the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category. He lost out to Cirkut, however.
