After the release of his fourth studio album Purpose at the end of 2015, Justin Bieber has spent 2016 enjoying its success and welcoming us all into his new musical era. Purpose marks a huge change both in Justin’s style as an artist and in how he presents himself to the world. The music he has performed to us in 2016 is not only more diverse and dance-orientated than ever before, but his lyrics are more personally meaningful. This year has been a sort of rebirth for Justin Bieber, as he has reflected on his past mistakes whilst using his concert tour to articulate his true ‘Purpose‘ in life.
The Purpose World Tour is Justin’s third worldwide tour. It began on 9 March 2016 and will continue until 18 June 2017. The tour consists of 138 shows in total across North and South America, Europe, Oceania and two shows in Japan. 2016 has really consolidated Justin’s position as a truly global artist.
The Purpose Tour has been the most extravagant of Justin’s tours so far; he performs inside a glass cube, steel cage and on a trampoline which hovers over the standing crowd. The epic strobe lighting and dance routines make it a spectacle to watch. As well as performing his huge dance tracks such as ‘Where Are U Now’, Justin takes the time to sit down and perform acoustic versions of ‘Cold Water’ and ‘Love Yourself’. He also moves the crowd with emotional performances of ‘Life is Worth Living’ and ‘Purpose’, as he speaks to his fans about finding his purpose, his faith and learning from his mistakes.
Though the tour has dominated Justin’s year, he has also taken the time to perform at numerous awards ceremonies. He recently performed his DJ Snake collaboration ‘Let Me Love You’ at the American Music Awards whilst picking up four AMAs for himself, including Video of the Year for ‘Sorry’, Favourite Pop/Rock Album and Favourite Pop/Rock Male Artist. Justin also headlined at the UK’s V Festival in August alongside Rihanna.
The Billboard Music Awards saw Justin perform an awesome ‘Company/Sorry’ medley, where he won Top Male Artist and Top Social Artist, beating Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande to the top spot. The iHeart Radio Awards granted Bieber three trophies, whilst he won the renowned title of International Male Solo Artist at the 2016 Brit Awards. His Brits performance of an acoustic ‘Love Yourself’ followed by a flame-filled dancing rendition of ‘Sorry’ demonstrates his versatility as an artist and has been viewed over 35 million times.
No doubt the highlight of Justin’s year was winning his first Grammy award for Best Dance Recording for his Skrillex and Diplo collaboration, ‘Where Are U Now’, after two previous nominations. 2016 has truly been the year of Justin Bieber’s comeback as he has re-established himself at the top of the music industry. Best Dance Recording was an untelevised award. However, you can watch Justin’s playful acceptance video which he posted on Twitter.
Lol. Just playin. It's mine ? pic.twitter.com/BkjuckjZNe
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) February 15, 2016
As part of his ‘reinvention’ as an artist, Justin appeared on his first GQ magazine cover with the front-page headline “Let us now forgive Justin Bieber”, a reference to his reform after previous (fairly public) mistakes. GQ’s in-depth interview with Bieber back in February had the appropriate headline “Justin Bieber would like to reintroduce himself” and includes personal discussion about anxiety, his love life and how he’s making “the best music of his life”. GQ also showed us a more slick and fashionable side to Justin as he modeled a fabulous Burberry leather jacket.
Justin has achieved so much in 2016, from playing to millions of fans across the globe to winning industry-topping awards to developing his personal self. We’re so proud of him and know there is much more to come from Bieber over the next few years.
Do you have a favourite of Justin Bieber’s moments this year? Let us know with a tweet, @CelebMix.