Justin Bieber treated fans to a rare performance, surprising Grand National Tour concertgoers to a remixed performance of “Snooze” alongside SZA on Friday (May 23). But it’s what he did on-stage that has the internet concerned, and they’re taking their worries to TikTok.
This Tiktoker explained the sentiment well: “We gotta get Justin some help,” TikToker @Raeon began in a clip captioned “He’s going through it.” He added: “…Boy eyes was pinched tight, singing without the mic to his mouth, and you could just feel the emotion running through him. Like he was living the lyrics, that’s how it looked.”
He also praised SZA who seemingly noticed Bieber’s on-stage energy, lifting his chin high affirming him mid-song. “SZA had to lift him back up with the hand on the chin, like, ‘Hey, not only [are] you important, I see you hurting, but n***a we got to finish this set,” he added.
The “Yummy” crooner then kissed SZA’s palm and hand, eventually twirling around as they moved across the stage. “You can tell he out of it,” Raeon continued.
Another user said praised SZA for her handling of the singer.
“What SZA did with Justin Bieber, the chin grab, was such a powerful ‘I got you’ move for a man that you can see is yearning for something deeper who is hurting, whose suffering, whose going through darkness,” @dquan.gandyii added in another TikTok. “You can see he was so wrapped up in the movement, and the moment and the music— he lost himself. He was so in that moment and she brought him back down to reality. It takes a good yet powerful woman to be able to do something like that.”
Fans took to the comment section to discuss how “sad” and “he’s clearly on something strong.”
Overall, fans said he is going through something, and they hoped he get through what it is because he is precious to many.
Another person wrote, “He was in the middle of a crash out… All we can do is pray for him,” while a third said the performance was “hard to watch.” Others reaffirmed how, “He needs us blk woman right now,” calling SZA an “angel” after, “She did what a real friend would do.”
Other comments included: “It brought tears to my eyes,” “I saw his pain and the moment he was going through immediately,” and “You saw him completely relaxed when she touched him.”
“I think the Diddy trial has him shook as well,” one person suspected. Speculation surrounding the true nature of Bieber and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ relationship circulated for months after Diddy’s sex abuse scandal broke. Reps for Bieber told TMZ Diddy, who was instrumental in propelling Bieber’s teenage music career, never abused him.
“Although Justin is not among Sean Combs’ victims, there are individuals who were genuinely harmed by him,” the reps’ statement said. “Shifting focus away from this reality detracts from the justice these victims rightfully deserve.”
One commenter even suggested a “conservatorship,” a legal arrangement where a court appoints a conservator to manage the affairs, financial or personal, of an incapacitated adult, while another pointed out “only Justin can heal Justin. Anyone who has ever dealt with an addict knows that lesson.” Bieber has publicly denied using hard drugs, despite social media allegations of fentanyl usage and him being “in a forced Marriage Contract” with his wife of eight years Hailey Bieber.
Reps told TMZ back in February how this year has been “very transformative for him as he ended several close friendships and business relationships that no longer served him.” They added that he’s not high on drugs, but high on life, and his priorities include being the best dad and creating passionate art. They want all narratives about the 31-year-old’s mental and physical health to stop because it’s “exhausting and pitiful and shows that despite the obvious truth, people are committed to keeping negative, salacious, harmful narratives alive.”
