By Clara Stern
This year’s Coachella, nicknamed Bieberchella due to headliner Justin Bieber, sparked intense controversy over the different standards male and female artists are held to.
These different standards are evident after delving into the shockingly different qualities of performances between pop-star Sabrina Carpenter and former child-star Justin Bieber.
Sabrina Carpenter put on an elaborate performance. Her setlist included 20 songs and wonderful production, including a water fountain attached to a Cadillac and multiple Broadway-style cityscapes. The set gave off vintage vibes, completed by the black and white intro video. Carpenter and her team had quite obviously spent a lot of time mulling over how to best entertain the audience.
In stark contrast, Justin Bieber showed up on an empty stage in baggy shorts, a hoodie, and a laptop. He sang songs from his SWAG era, and did a YouTube “throwback segment”. In the YouTube segment, which lasted roughly 25 minutes, he played old memes for the audience and some older songs including “Baby” and “Beauty and a Beat”. He was paid $10 million.
Between the two performances, it isn’t hard to deduct which one looks like a well produced, fully thought out, enthusiastic performance and which one looks like the artist was given ten minutes to throw together a show.
But fans loved Justin Bieber’s set praising its authenticity and nostalgia.
Junior Riya Srivastiva really appreciated the moment where Bieber played his old music videos. She said, “I thought it was really monumental, him singing with his younger self.”
But this begs the question, would the performance still be highly regarded if a woman had done the same thing?
Junior Kayla Zhinin doesn’t think so. “If a woman did that, she would have been called lazy and boring.”
I have to agree. Female artists are held up to much higher standards than males. They are judged not only on their performances, but their looks. If their makeup isn’t perfect, or their outfit is too revealing, the internet goes absolutely insane. There are avid debates regarding the appearance of female celebrities just trying to please their fans.
Bieber’s appearance sparked controversy, and as Junior Zoya Bhandari said, “If he was a woman he’d be canceled.”
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