Bieber’s surprise cameos

Justin Bieber used his Coachella headlining debut on Saturday, April 11, to turn a solo comeback set into a guest-heavy reunion on the festival’s biggest stage. (rollingstone.com) The surprise appearances came in clusters: the Kid Laroi joined Bieber for “Stay,” Dijon performed “Devotion,” and Mk.gee played bass on “Daisies” at the end of the set. Tems also appeared for “I Think You’re Special,” followed by Wizkid for “Essence.” (rollingstone.com) Coachella’s first weekend runs April 10-12, 2026, at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, and Bieber is billed again for Weekend 2 on April 18. The festival announced him as one of its 2026 headliners when the lineup dropped in September 2025. (coachella.com, coachellavalley.com) The cameos landed inside a set that also doubled as Bieber’s first major United States concert run in four years. In the week before Coachella, he played small West Hollywood shows at the Roxy and the Troubadour built around songs from *Swag* and *Swag II*. (rollingstone.com, billboard.com, rollingstone.com) That history helps explain why the guest list stood out. Bieber has spent years popping into other artists’ Coachella sets, including Ariana Grande’s in 2019 and Tems’ set in 2024, but 2026 marked the first time he headlined the festival under his own name. (billboard.com, billboard.com) The pairings were not random. Dijon and Mk.gee both worked on Bieber’s recent material, and Tems and Wizkid were tied to one of his biggest crossover hits through the 2021 “Essence” remix. (rollingstone.com, billboard.com) Coverage of the full performance split on execution even as the guest spots drew immediate attention. Rolling Stone called the set a “mixed bag,” while Billboard framed it as a career-spanning recap that mixed new songs, older hits and YouTube-era callbacks. (rollingstone.com, billboard.com) Weekend 2 now becomes the next test: whether Bieber repeats the cameo-heavy format on April 18 or reshapes a set that already turned Coachella’s first Saturday into a survey of his collaborators. (coachella.com, rollingstone.com)