advertisement
Music News

Here’s How Justin Bieber Reacted to Not Seeing ‘Queen’ Rihanna Perform Her Own Songs at Karaoke

The "Umbrella" singer had performed several songs from Anti.

Rihanna and Justin Bieber pose in the audience during the 2011 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 22, 2011 in Las Vegas.

Rihanna and Justin Bieber pose in the audience during the 2011 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena May 22, 2011 in Las Vegas.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Justin Bieber is just as bummed as fans are that he didn’t get to see Rihanna‘s latest impromptu performance.

Over the weekend, RiRi made a pitstop at Manhattan’s Girls Love Karaoke, where she took over the stage to perform “Needed Me” and “Sex With Me” from her 2016 album Anti.


“Missed seein u sing Queen,” he wrote on his Instagram Story Friday (Jan. 3) with the goat, crown and shocked reaction emojis over a clip he reshared of his Def Jam labelmate performing “Needed Me.”

“Don’t do too much because, you know, I got five minutes. My battery’s about to burn out. There’s a lot of cameras. I didn’t come here for this s–t,” Rihanna said in a video recap of the event posted to Girls Love Karaoke’s Instagram.

advertisement

The last time the “Work” hitmaker delivered a full concert was in March, when she performed during the pre-wedding celebration for Anant Ambani, the son of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, and Radhika Merchant in Jamnagar, India. It was the first time she put on a full show since her Anti World Tour in 2016. Coincidentally, Bieber performed at another of the same couple’s pre-wedding celebration months later, marking the “Sorry” singer’s first performance since he canceled the remainder of his Justice World Tour in 2023 due to health concerns.

Both superstars have been quiet on the music front and have prioritized starting their own families, but Rihanna previously teased that she and her partner A$AP Rocky have been cooking up something new. “I already got stuff that I feel like I could make hits out of,” she told Entertainment Tonight in April. “Me and Rocky are really trying to figure out who’s gonna use what because it’s so good.”

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

advertisement
Ed Sheeran performs onstage at iHeartRadio Z100's Jingle Ball 2025 Presented by Capital One held at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2025 in New York, New York.
John Nacion/Billboard

Ed Sheeran performs onstage at iHeartRadio Z100's Jingle Ball 2025 Presented by Capital One held at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2025 in New York, New York.

Music News

Ed Sheeran Addresses Controversy at First Show Since Openers, Backing Band Dropped Off Tour, Calls It ‘The Best Show of My Life’

Before his show in Philadelphia, Sheeran read a statement acknowledging the issue of Israel and Palestine, but still tried to keep things neutral.

Ed Sheeran needed to address the situation before he could start playing guitar. It wasn’t how he wanted to start his show, and he’s made it abundantly clear that the last thing he wants around him is controversy or, in his words, to be an “activist musician.”

But here he was, at the first show after his opener and friend Macklemore was kicked off the tour, following pressure by a group of venue owners led by Robert Kraft who took issue with Macklemore’s statement of support toward Palestine. That led to the rest of the tour’s openers and even Sheeran’s backing band for the tour dropping off the tour in solidarity with Macklemore — all of which became a huge news story and PR nightmare for the usually very un-controversial Sheeran. And though he had already made one highly scrutinized statement online while the news story was at its most potent, Sheeran felt the need to address the crowd at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night (Sept. 19) in person, before the show really started.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

keep readingShow less
advertisement