Despite what a viral post on social media claims, Justin Bieber did not need to find a “loophole” to perform some of his older material for his headlining performance at Coachella.
During his set on Saturday (April 11), Bieber surprised fans by pulling up YouTube on a laptop and performing his breakout hit “Baby” and “Favorite Girl,” the latter being the first time since 2013. He also performed “Beauty and the Beat” and “Never Say Never” with the music videos playing from his laptop, projected on the screen behind him.
A viral post on X, formerly Twitter, claimed that Bieber “played chess against his label” in the unconventional format of the performance. The post falsely claimed that Bieber is required to ask Hipgnosis Songs Capital, whom he sold his music rights to in 2023 for $200 million per Variety, to perform the songs live, and playing them off of YouTube was a “loophole” that allowed him to circumvent paying the company.
The post has since been fact-checked by other users on X, with a community note stating that Bieber doesn’t need permission to perform his old songs due to music venues holding performance licenses for live shows from Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) such as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
The moment wasn’t a clever “loophole” but a cute throwback to some of the singer-songwriter’s oldest material, and perhaps a nod to how he was discovered. The set included a lot of other memorable moments, including harmonizing to his cover of Ne-Yo’s “So Sick,” the first of several he uploaded to YouTube starting in 2007 before he got a record deal, and pulled up the infamous paparazzi video where he said, “Is it not clocking to you?”
Other highlights included a slew of special guests such as the Kid Laroi, Dijon, Tems, Wizkid and Mk.gee.
