“He came to the stage, he did it once,” says producer Ben Winston in a new podcast interview with Rolling Stone Music Now. And he went, ‘Okay, fantastic. See you Sunday!'”
On Sunday (Feb. 1), the Canadian pop-R&B singer graced the stage at the 2026 Grammy Awards for the first time in four years. Bieber performed a laid-back rendition of his Swag track “Yukon,” which was nominated for best R&B performance.
The song already has an intimate, bedroom R&B sound, but Bieber took the song’s presentation a step further, gracing the dimly-lit stage along in only lilac satin shorts and a pair of black socks. His shirtless torso was covered by a 1980s purple Yamaha electric guitar, which some fans have tied to Bieber’s staple colour during his come-up.
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But it wasn’t just Bieber’s televised performance that was stripped back. In a podcast interview with Rolling Stone Music Now, the award show’s executive producer Ben Winston revealed that Bieber spent a mere 15 minutes practising the track during the rehearsals.
He details that each Grammy performer is allotted 90 minutes to rehearse, but noted that Bieber seemed content with his self-looped performance of “Yukon” after one run-through.
“He came to the stage, he did it once,” the producer says. “It was brilliant. We are seven minutes into his hour-and-a-half rehearsal. And he goes, ‘How’d it look to you? You happy with it?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, my God. It looked beautiful. I loved it.’ And he went, ‘Okay, fantastic. See you Sunday!'”
As Bieber was getting ready to leave, Winston asked him to do a second run-through of the performance for the camera operators to learn the song. He politely obliged and then left, which Winston says lasted a total of 15 minutes. “He was effortless and brilliant,” he shared.
Following the success of Swag — which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart — Winston reveals that he wasn’t sure Bieber would be down to perform, but “gently pursued” the Ontario native before he agreed to take the stage.
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“It’s all him — it’s all him at the moment,” Winston says. “I thought [Swag] was a career-defining moment for him. It was so different to what we’ve seen over these years.” While the record flirts with Bieber’s pop prowess, it heavily leans into his R&B roots, prioritizing experimental production and instrumentation.
His performance was immediately captivating, as viewers watched the singer stand in place as he built up a groove to “Yukon” on loop pedals (à la his “I Don’t Care” collaborator Ed Sheeran) and let his vocals take over. While the looping technique can prove difficult — especially in front of millions of people — Bieber appeared unfazed.
“Everything that was heard on everyone’s television was created on that carpet,” Winston explains. “It was so simple." Prior to Bieber taking the stage, the award show producer commented on the crowd’s anticipation of the set.
“Every single person in the auditorium stood up. That doesn’t happen for everybody,” he says. “It was really interesting, the respect he has from the music community. They stood up, and they were enraptured.”
Of the singer’s stripped-down look, Winston adds that it might not have been planned. “I don’t think he decided what the outfit would be until he walked on stage.”
His set was one of the hottest moments of the night, with a strong audience reception — including from his wife Hailey, who applauded directly to the camera.
The Biebs has a long history with the Grammys. He graced the stage back in 2011, performing an acoustic version of his breakout hit “Baby,” before being joined by Jaden Smith and Usher for “Never Say Never” and “OMG.” In 2022, Bieber took the stage with Daniel Caesar and Giveon to perform their chart-topping hit “Peaches."
