Justin Bieber Makes First Public Stage Appearance in Two Years for Ariana Grande’s Closing Coachella Set

By Erin Nyren

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Ariana Grande knows how to make up for a lost opportunity. After facing near disastrous sound issues during Nicki Minaj’s guest appearance for Grande’s weekend one Coachella set, the “Sweetener” singer brought out Justin Bieber for his first stage appearance in two years for her weekend two closing set.

After a performance that was relatively similar to weekend one, Grande took a pause between “Break Free” and her penultimate track, “No Tears Left to Cry,” to bring out the “What Do You Mean?” singer.

“I wasn’t going to bring out any guests tonight,” Grande said. “But my friend came all the way out.”

Whether or not the first part of her statement was truthful or not is up for debate — but it was a known fact Bieber had shown up at the Empire Polo Club for weekend two, appearing in the crowd for Billie Eilish’s Saturday set with his wife, Hailey Baldwin.

Also up for debate is whether Bieber was actually singing — the vocals on his track, “Sorry,” sounded suspiciously synthetic. But the audience certainly didn’t care; as soon as Grande said his name, the audience erupted in screams.

After performing “Sorry,” Bieber thanked Grande profusely.

“I had no idea I was going to be on a stage tonight,” Bieber said. “No idea. I wore this fly outfit not knowing I was going to be on stage.”

He acknowledged that it was his first time performing in “like two years, so I had to get my groove back, had to get my swag back, you know what I’m saying.”

Just before he receded to the back of the stage — but didn’t quite disappear, continuing to thank Grande and telling the crowd to give her more energy — he hinted at new music: “Album coming soon.”