Justin Bieber has criticised the music industry, saying he is “not a product”.
READ MORE: Justin Bieber – ‘Swag II’: a lighter and more tender but still bloated sequel
The pop star took to Instagram on Wednesday (December 24) to share snippets of Bible verses alongside his own thoughts on his career.
“I’m not speaking as a victim still bleeding – I’m speaking as someone restored,” Bieber wrote. “I don’t want revenge. I want redemption. I’m not a product. I’m not what the industry demanded. I’m a son.”
He continued: “Because I’m healed, I can forgive. Not to pretend injustice didn’t happen, but so it doesn’t keep living through me.”
He went on to clarify that he doesn’t “want to burn the music industry down,” but explained, “I want to see it made new – safer, more honest, more human.”
It’s not the first time Bieber has expressed his feelings on social media. In June, he took to Instagram to open up about his “anger issues”, and back in March, he also shared another message in which he said he “hates” himself when he feels that he is becoming “inauthentic”, before adding: “Then I remember we’re all being made to think we’re not enough but I still hate when I change myself to please people.”
Prior to that, he shared another post in which he addressed his struggles with feeling like a “fraud” on social media. “People told me my whole life ‘wow Justin u deserve that’ and I personally have always felt unworthy. Like I was a fraud.”
In April, his team dismissed reports that he is in financial distress and “more than $20million” in debt. His reps called the reports “ill-informed” and “clickbait stupidity”.
Bieber has also made a return to the spotlight recently and is set to top the bill at Coachella next April. He’s reported to be earning $10million (£7.3m) in total for his pair of performances, which are due to take place across two consecutive weekends (Saturday April 11 and Saturday April 18). That’s a huge $5million (£3.6m) per show.
Bieber hasn’t performed live in the US since his 2022 ‘Justice’ world tour. His most recent show took place in July 2024 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, India. This came as part of a pre-wedding party for the son of the richest man in Asia, with Bieber reportedly being paid $10million for the gig.
The singer surprise-released ‘Swag’ – the follow-up to 2021’s ‘Justice’ – in July, before sharing the sequel ‘Swag II’ earlier this month. In a three-star review of the latter, NME wrote: “It’s frustrating because there’s plenty of great material scattered across these two parts, which would be far stronger as a single, shorter release.
“Put bluntly, you have to wonder: did this really need to be a double album?”
Elsewhere, Ed Sheeran recently shared that his song ‘Camera’ was almost a duet with Bieber.
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