Justin Bieber performed in Mumbai as a part of his world tour for Purpose, his new album, and a lot happened before and after that. Ever since the word was out, Beliebers went into a frenzy over the pop star’s very first gig in India. On the day of the concert, about 50,000 people went to witness the magic of Justin Bieber on stage and came out disappointed.
A lot of flak was given to the singer as he lip-synced a lot throughout his gig. There were many posts ridiculing the singer which said how the concert was a waste of time and money. What a lot of people probably don’t know is that most singers lip-sync their performances. Are we really naive enough to believe that every pop star performs live every time? Or are we just disappointed when the fantasy is ruined? Like many artists, Justin Bieber doesn’t just sing on stage, he performs. He’s dancing, moving about the stage and entertaining the audience. And if you have seen videos from his earlier concerts, that’s the way he performs.
Contrary to popular belief, Bieber didn’t lip-sync throughout the gig. While on stage with his acoustic guitar, he was really singing. On stage for 120 minutes, it is unrealistic to expect an artist to sing continuously. He was also directly conversing with the audience regularly to keep them engaged and involved in the performance. Watch this clip from one of Bieber’s concert in Germany where he is visibly lip-syncing to his hit song Sorry –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt8cNDbPPw4
Many international artists lip-sync in bits and pieces when performing as it is impossible to sing and dance together. This happens all around the world and it’s kind of unfair to call out Justin Bieber for the same when in fact, many Indian singers/celebrities lip-synced through their songs for the Global Citizen India festival. Artists do that, even if it’s for one song. Here’s a video of Beyonce lip-syncing to her hit song, Single Ladies –
All an artist wants is to keep the audience engaged. The whole idea is to entertain the crowd with the help of a wholesome act that involves the artist singing, dancing and performing. Like most live performances that we see at concerts, this one was no different. A singer doesn’t come on stage to provide any sort of evidence that they can sing. The idea is to entertain the fans as much as possible, and through as many ways as possible. Criticizing Bieber for lip-syncing in kind of uncalled for as by now we should know that most artists don’t actually sing while performing live. We hope more and more artists have gigs in India and don’t get called out for things like this, something that happens everywhere.
Let’s look forward to Ed Sheeran now.
