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Late Wednesday afternoon, pop/R&B megastar Justin Bieber was revealed as a co-headliner of the FIFA World Cup Final halftime show, where he will perform alongside Madonna, BTS, and Shakira in a globally star-packed spectacle set for July 19th.
The performance will mark Bieber's first live appearance since his highly anticipated Coachella set in April, which itself was his first major live showing since his scrapped Justice tour in 2022.
Given the success of both Coachella weekends—his stripped-down, minimalist performance drew some criticism, but fans embraced it wholeheartedly, and the streaming surge was impossible to ignore—it makes perfect sense that Bieber would look to push further into live music, and that FIFA would select him, a Canadian icon, for the role.
However, fans hoping for a repeat of the desert experience shouldn't hold their breath—the World Cup halftime show is expected to run just 11 minutes in total, and Bieber must share the stage with two other superstars and a supergroup. He may have enough time for two, perhaps three songs at most.
Which raises the question ... which of his countless hits will he choose to perform?
It's possible Bieber releases a new single before July 19th, in which case a performance of that track would certainly be expected. But setting that unlikely scenario aside, his setlist choice should be obvious: he should perform "Beauty and a Beat." And he should do it for the sake of the fans.
From 2012's Believe, "Beauty and a Beat" ranks among Bieber's most beloved tracks, boasting over two billion streams and counting on Spotify. Many of those plays likely came after the Ontario native's debut Coachella weekend, when his catalog surpassed 77 million streams in a single day and he claimed the No. 1 spot on Spotify's Global Top Artist Chart. "Beauty and a Beat" specifically also climbed to No. 3 on Spotify's Global Top 200, almost certainly fueled by his decision to include it in the throwback portion of his set.
Bieber performed other classic tracks during that segment as well—"Baby" and "That Should Be Me," among others—but none experienced quite the same post-Coachella revival as "Beauty and a Beat." And the reason, in my view, is obvious.
Society is currently consumed by nostalgia. Anything ripe for a reboot is a goldmine, and anything low-rise is back in style. Music is no different; if you can wrap an old melody in a fresh chorus, you've got yourself a TikTok sensation and likely a chart hit as well. We all long for something from our past, and our listening habits make that abundantly clear.
"Beauty and a Beat," with its pounding techno drop and Nicki Minaj verse, plus a dated nod to Selena Gomez, captures everything that made the 2010s so memorable. It evokes summer evenings with friends and after-school soccer practice. It brings back memories of learning to drive and dimly lit high school dances. For three minutes and 47 seconds, it feels like the good old days all over again, and if the streaming numbers say anything, the world simply can't get enough.
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The song also conjures the golden era of Justin Bieber himself. If he is building toward a major comeback, or gearing up to announce a big tour, there's no better way to do so than by paying homage to his roots. That's essentially what halftime shows are designed for, anyway.
So, Justin, do us all a favor. Just as you did at Coachella, use your World Cup moment to take us back in time, one more time. As lighthearted as it sounds, the world will be all the better for it.
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Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sports and culture at TheWeek.com before transitioning to Livingetc, an interior design publication. She holds a degree from Syracuse University, with dual majors in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing management (from the Whitman School of Management). In her spare time, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and cheering on the Steelers.