Justin Bieber’s Coachella set sparks sexism debate as Karol G wows at festival | indy100

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Justin Bieber's stripped-back Coachella performance brought all the nostalgic feels, with day-one millennial fans rejoicing after hearing some of the star's earlier hits and covers, including 'Baby' and his viral YouTube cover of 'With You' 19 years ago.

Bieber fans swarmed social media with reactions, with many believing it lived up to the hype with a setlist spanning 34 songs.

But once the dust started to settle, attention quickly shifted to a wider debate around sexism. As viewers saw, Bieber hit the stage with YouTube playing in the background, along with a live chat feature. Meanwhile, the likes of Karol G and Sabrina Carpenter pulled out all of the stops.

Some critics described Bieber's approach as "lazy" and argued that if a woman delivered a similar performance, the reaction would be far more severe.

"Women always have to be exceptional, and even then, it’s not enough. Men get away with far too much, and I’ll never pretend to be impressed by obvious mediocrity and low effort. No thanks," Ari (@ariannakyanne) wrote in a viral post that later gained over 250,000 views and was reposted by Julia Fox.

In the clip, Ari said, "only a man could get away" with that type of laid-back performance.

"If a woman did that, and she put in such little effort knowing that people spent thousands of dollars to see her, it would be the end of the f***ing world," she said. "The witch hunt would be on, her comments would be full of all kinds of evil s**t, and it's just so crazy that men are so, so lucky to be able to get away with being so f***ing lazy".

The debate also spilled onto X/Twitter, where users didn't hold back.

Many drew comparisons between Bieber's performance and those of Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G, who both delivered what fans described as some of the "greatest performances" of Coachella.

Their sets featured outfit changes, choreography, dancers, and full theatrical production.

"Karol G spending all Justin Bieber's budget," one user joked.

"Justin Bieber watching how Karol G had a giant macaw in her performance, and Sabrina Carpenter brought a ton of water trucks, and he just had his MacBook," one penned.

"The show Karol G is putting on at #Coachella is OUT OF THIS WORLD! There's no way to justify the crap Justin Bieber pulled," another chimed in. "Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G MOMS!"

That said, some jumped to Bieber's defence, with one simply stating they don't agree with the criticism.

"It has nothing to do with gender but with the artist. If Adele was headlining, you wouldn’t expect her to give some crazy performance with a ton of props and dancers because that is not who she is as an artist," they wrote.

Another shared: "This is not a valid take if it applies to JB. That man has been through so much as is. This is why artists eventually don’t come back."

A third chimed in: "I get what you’re saying, but Justin Bieber was literally discovered through YouTube, so including it in his Coachella performance felt intentional to me."

No Coachella set is complete without some debate...

Indy100 reached out to Justin Bieber's representative for comment

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