Why Justin Bieber Turned Down Usher’s Halftime Show
Justin Bieber and Usher perform on NBC's "Today" in the TODAY Plaza on November 23, 2011 in New York City.
As millions tuned in to Usher’s Halftime performance during the Super Bowl, many fans wondered where Justin Bieber was. The two singers previously collaborated on 2010’s “Somebody to Love” remix. The R&B legend brought out tons of collaborators on stage with him, both old and new: Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Will.i.am, Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon, and Ludacris. After the singer’s electrifying performance, Bieber shared a heartfelt congratulations to his longtime friend and early supporter. He wrote in an Instagram post: “LOVE YOU MY BROTHER. NOONE CAN SING AND DANCE THE WAY YOU DO. LOVE YOU FROM THE DEPTHS OF MY HEART. BROUGHT THE A’ TO THE WORLD, ONLY YOU BABYYYYYY [kissing emoji].”
Despite all the love, Bieber was asked if he would join the “Confessions” singer for the performance. A source told Page Six that there is no beef between Justin and his mentor. “Justin just wasn’t up for it — he just wasn’t feeling it,” the insider told the publication. As gossip website TMZ kept tabs on the Canadian singer-songwriter, Bieber was in Last Vegas ahead of the big game. He was traveling with the Kardashians and ended up in Kim’s suite to watch the game with his wife, Hailey Bieber.
Fans swarmed the Biebs’ Instagram post, calling him out for not performing. One person commented: “I’m just confused why you weren’t on stage I feel like u blue balled me.” Another said, “You could’ve been on that stage with him bookie…” Another annoyed fan wrote: “why would you even post this knowing DAMN well we was looking for you..?” One person hilariously said, justin i had my full purple fit on.” Commenting angrily, another wrote: “You KNEW we were waiting for you to get on stage.” One fan said, “justin that was heart wrenching lowkey babe.” Despite Beliebers’ pleas, this year’s Super Bowl was the longest and most-watched program in television history with an average of 123.4 million viewers.
Justin Bieber’s 6 Best Songs Of All Time Ranked
The month of March kicks off with a very important holiday — Justin Bieber’s birthday. The “Peaches” singer was born on March 1, 1994, in Ontario, Canada. Justin learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet while growing up in Canada. When he was 12 years old, Bieber performed Ne-Yo’s “So Sick” for a local singing competition, in which he placed second. His mother, Pattie Mallette, posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see and continued to upload videos of her son singing covers of popular R&B songs. With this, Bieber’s popularity on the site grew. Bieber also used to busk on the steps in front of concerts at Avon Theatre.
Scooter Braun, So So Def Recordings’ former marketing executive, accidentally came across one of Bieber’s YouTube videos and tracked him down. Impressed with his talent, Scooter convinced Bieber’s mom and their church elders to let him go with him to Atlanta to record demo tapes. One week later, Bieber began singing for Usher and signed with Usher and Braun’s Raymond Braun Media Group at 13 years old. Braun signed on to be Bieber’s manager in 2008. His debut single was 2009’s “One Time,” with his first EP being My World. The EP had such popular hits like “One Time,” One Less Lonely Girl,” and “Favorite Girl.”
As we previously reported, Bieber sold his song catalog to Hipgnosis for $200 million. The sale has been called the largest of any artist of Bieber’s generation. Bieber’s net worth is estimated to be about $300 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Of the sale, Braun called JB a “once-in-a-generation artist and that is reflected and acknowledged by the magnitude of this deal.”
With six albums below his belt and over 150 million albums sold worldwide, see which Justin Bieber songs made the top of our list below.
Laila Abuelhawa is the Top 40 and Hip-Hop pop culture writer for Beasley Media Group. Being with the company for over three years, Laila's fierce and fabulous red-carpet rankings have earned her a feature on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!' Her favorite stories are those surrounding the latest in celebrity fashion, television and film rankings, and how the world reacts to major celebrity news. With a background in journalism, Laila's stories ensure accuracy and offer background information on stars that you wouldn't have otherwise known. She prides herself in covering stories that inform the public about what is currently happening and what is to come in the ever-changing, ever-evolving media landscape.
