Justin Bieber’s Grammys Performance Continued His Resurgence

Armed with a new crop of critically lauded hit songs, Justin Bieber took the stage tonight to perform at the Grammys, finally shutting up anyone who doubted his artistry—or thought his reputation couldn’t be saved.

When Justin Bieber took the stage at the Grammys tonight, at first all alone with a guitar, he was performing as a Grammy winner for the first time.

Justin Bieber’s collab with Diplo and Skrillex, “Where Are Ü Now,” fulfilled its front-runner status in the best-dance-recording category tonight, marking Bieber’s first-ever Grammy win. Yes, really. Everyone thought the Canadian pop idol, who emerged from the wilds of YouTube and went on to conquer the world, would win best new artist back in 2011, only to have jazz singer Esperanza Spalding take the prize in an upset. He’s been shut out ever since, until now.

So, Bieber had some tortured Grammys history to work through tonight, which is to say nothing of the legal troubles and bratty public behavior that have plagued his career and reputation in the past few years. Thus it’s tempting to call Bieber’s performance (and win) tonight make-or-break, but rather than risk hyperbole, we’ll just say that it was a golden opportunity, to prove the (many) haters wrong, and complete his 2015 non-apology apology tour. Judging from the warm enough reception tonight, Bieber is dancing his way toward some sort of redemption.

Of course it helps that his new songs—fun, silky, laid-back grooves—are actually pretty good. Putting out solid work is probably the surest way to rehab a music career that has dimmed in the glare of a rocky, volatile personal life. But a few catchy songs would only take Bieber so far. He needed an event like tonight, a specific moment in time, a mix of contrition and revival, to really solidify the restoration of his image. He achieved what he set out to do; even if his vocally strong performance, of versions of “Where Are Ü Now” and “Love Yourself,” wasn’t the most exciting of the night, Bieber reminded the audience that a Justin Bieber appearance is still something of an event, regardless of what he did to that monkey, or that bucket, or whatever.

Bieber fever is on an undeniable upswing, tonight’s performance increasing that momentum and maybe, just maybe, helping to usher in a new era of Justin Bieber, one where the sins of the past are forgiven and the onetime golden child becomes, at long last, a music man.