Zara Larsson and Katy Perry fan the flames of Justin Bieber Coachella controversy: 'What the f---?'
The “Daisies” singer used a laptop to scroll through music videos and viral clips during the headlining gig.
Zara Larsson and Katy Perry fan the flames of Justin Bieber Coachella controversy: ‘What the f---?’
The "Daisies" singer used a laptop to scroll through music videos and viral clips during the headlining gig.
By Shania Russell
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Shania Russell
Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.
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April 13, 2026 11:08 a.m. ET
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Zara Larsson, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. Credit:
Frazer Harrison/WireImage; Kevin Mazur/Getty; Dave Benett/Getty
Justin Bieber's headlining gig at the 2026 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is getting some feedback from his fellow pop stars.
On Saturday night, the "Daises" singer turned a few heads with a very relaxed approach to his performance, which saw Bieber open his laptop mid-show to scroll through YouTube, where he pulled up viral memes and his own music videos for a karaoke-like singalong.
After attending the festival, Katy Perry shared an Instagram roundup of her experience. The carousel included a video of Bieber onstage, scrolling through YouTube, before the camera panned to Perry, who joked, "Thank God he has Premium."
She added, "I don't wanna see no ads."
Perry, wearing a shirt that read "Pls don't give me a rip off your vape no matter what I say," attended the first weekend of Coachella with her boyfriend, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Bieber spent roughly half an hour of his set going down an internet rabbit hole, pulling up such viral clips such as "Deez Nuts" and "Double Rainbow." He also used the platform to pull up some of his early hits — after opening the set with a run of tracks from his 2025 releases, *Swag *and *Swag II*.
He performed snippets of "Baby," "That Should Be Me," "Never Say Never," "Beauty and a Beat," and more, while the audience excitedly sang along. Then, he went even further back by projecting the video that launched his career: his 2008 cover of Chris Brown's "With You."
Justin Bieber delivers sleepy Coachella performance, doomscrolls and watches YouTube videos mid-show
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Sabrina Carpenter recruits Susan Sarandon and Will Ferrell for Coachella in splashy, Hollywood-themed headlining set
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Justin Bieber performs at Coachella.
Kevin Mazur/Getty
Perry wasn't the only musician voicing an opinion about Bieber's scrolling. That same night, Swedish singer Zara Larsson streamed Bieber's performance and shared a snippet of the viewing experience to TikTok.
"It's giving let's smoke and watch YouTube,” the 28-year-old wrote over the footage.
After Biebs cued up "Double Rainbow" during the viral video portion of his set, Larsson looked bewildered and laughed, commenting, "What the f---?" In her caption, she wrote that Bieber is in her "dream blunt rotation."
Afterwards, some commenters complained that the "Midnight Sun" singer was being too harsh on Bieber. Larsson seemed to address the backlash in a now-expired Instagram Stories post, writing, "'You always got something to say.' Correct!!!! You're new to this, I'm true to this!!"
She continued, "Everyone who's been with me for a minute knows I'm a yapper first. I was a blogger and I've had 3 podcasts looooool I can't shut up, it's just not in me."
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Bieber's set has been met with mixed reviews as some praise the singer for his innovative, nostalgic approach while others are criticizing the set as low-effort and uninspired.
- Music Festivals
Source: “EW Coachella”