Justin Bieber performed Love Yourself and Sorry at the Brits – to massive fanfare and fan acclaim.
He crooned Love Yourself, doing an acoustic version accompanied by James Bay of large hat fame.
He then performed a lively rendition of Sorry, surrounded by flames and street dancers.
Here’s our music editor’s verdict.
“Justin Bieber has stolen the show so far, morphing from an accoustic version of Love Yourself accompanied by James Bay, morphing into his dancefloor hit, Sorry,” writes Bernadette.
“His nonchalance worked well with his new copper-bottomed hits. By contrast, Coldplay and Jess Glynn both felt like they were trying to hard with songs that just aren’t as good. Coldplay turned on the pyrotehcnics to compensate, Glynn the volume on her both her hair and voice, to the extent that she sounded like Heather Smalls from M People.”
“In terms of the presenters, Ant and Dec really need to retire, they have turned into 70s comedians, cracking unfunny jokes about fire alarms.”
People on Twitter seemed to enjoy his reinvention:
He also wore the same (rather flammable-looking) jacket as Zoe Ball. Our fashion writer Alice Newbold writes: “The 21-year-old has his finger on the fashion pulse and knows that bomber jackets are the transitional cover-up of the season. The Sorry singer flexed his trend muscle, however, and opted for a silk jacket with tropical beach theme emblazoned on it. Fitting, considering that Bieber performed with flames framing his signature dance moves.”
Bieber, 21, won the International Male Solo Artist award, along with hip-hop aritst Drake, ex-Fleet Foxes singer Father John Misty, rapper Kendrick Lamar and RnB star The Weeknd.
He gave a short, shy and muted speech, talking about his “journey” and thanking his team.
Brits 2016: Red carpet arrivalsPlay!01:05
The Canadian singer performed his songs from Purpose, the album he released last year, at the start of the ceremony.
Bieber’s latest album was, unsurprisingly, a huge success. Since its release in November 2015, it has been dominating international charts, with all three singles released so far (Sorry, Love Yourself, and What Do You Mean?) reaching the top of the charts – the first time the star has had three consecutive number ones.
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| Bieber accepting his Brit Award in 2011, aged 16 |
The singer’s last Brit win was in 2011 when, aged just 16, he collected the award for Best Breakthrough Act. Since then, he has been recognised by a number of smaller ceremonies (MTV, Guinness Book of World Records – even The Fragrance Foundation’s FiFi Awards) but hasn’t received any more Brits nods.
He managed to bag his first Grammy earlier in February, when he won the Best Dance Recording award for Where Are U Now, his collaboration with producers Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü. In 2011 he was nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy, but it went to comparatively little-known jazz artist Esperanza Spalding.
Bieber shot to international fame in 2010 when he released his first album My World 2.0. Led by his signature hit Baby, the record – along with his fresh-faced good looks – earned him a cult following of teenage girls. He followed that album up with Under The Mistletoe in 2011 and then Believe, which featured the hit song Boyfriend, in 2012. He’s bridged the gap between teenybopper pop and RnB, working with everyone from Carly Rae Jepsen to Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown.
His Brit Awards performance comes ahead of his US and European Purpose tour, which kicks off in North America in March and arrives in the UK in October. He’ll interrupt the tour, which will be promoting his chart-dominating album, to headline V Festival alongside Rihanna in August.
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