Is Justin Bieber okay? After I talked with people close to Justin, I confirmed one thing: this whole situation is not what you think it is.The Brett Cooper Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bbrettcooperBy joining Cooper Confidential you are directly supporting me and my team. You’ll get ad-free episodes, exclusive ‘Dear Brett” videos, and a private newsletter Sign up now: https://cooperconfidential.supercast.com/Peterson Academy: Join today for $399 a year! https://petersonacademy.com/brettSilencer Shop is the easiest and best way to get a suppressor. Visit http://silencershop.com/cooper today!An Evening With Brett Cooper Tickets Now on Sale!Austin: https://www.capcitycomedy.com/events/111681Atlanta: https://atlanta.heliumcomedy.com/events/111709Irvine: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-irvine-improv-tickets/14302563?pl=irvineimprovHuntsville: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-huntsville-levity-live-tickets/14302583?pl=sul-huntsvilleAddison: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-addison-improv-tickets/14305563?pl=addisonimprovHouston: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-houston-improv-tickets/14305603?pl=houstonimprovPhoenix: https://phoenix.standuplive.com/shows/309839Miami: https://www.miamiimprov.com/shows/309840FTL: https://www.daniaimprov.com/shows/309841https://www.brettcooper.com#BrettCooper #TheBrettCooperShow #BrettCooperShow
Chapter 1: What is the current public narrative about Justin Bieber?
You all probably think that you know the story of Justin Bieber. But beneath that story is another story, and another story, and another story, and somewhere underneath all of the noise is the truth. And that is what we're going to start breaking down today. So unless you guys have been living under a rock, I am sure you have seen the insane headlines and press around Justin Bieber right now.
It's been going on for months, but it seems like he and his wife Hailey cannot get out of the press. I mean, just look at the Google search volume from the last 24 hours. The number one search right now, a breakout search on Google, is what's wrong with Justin Bieber? The number two search, which is at 450%, is are Hailey and Justin getting divorced?
And the headlines you guys probably have seen read something like this. Justin Bieber facing a lot of different demons as former Circle Fear singer is making really poor decisions. Justin Bieber's former collaborators say that he is lost and unprotected amid Hailey Bieber divorce rumors. Justin Bieber's former crew worried over debt reports.
And mixed in with all of that are social media videos and photos that people are taking of him and Hailey just going about their personal lives, paparazzi hounding him, him fighting back against paparazzi and people saying, well, that's him crashing out.
Like, the entire narrative is that Justin Bieber is falling apart, that he's lost his mind, that he is going into debt, and that he and his wife Hailey are heading towards a divorce. And this narrative is everywhere now.
I just want to remind you that Justin Bieber is also, as an adult, probably experiencing one of the most traumatic years of his life. Money, money, money, money, money, money, money. Money, get out of here, bro. Money? Money? Is this common for somebody who is possibly using to be very normal some days and then very crazy?
So what really is going on? Now, like so many of you, I am a huge fan of Justin. I have been a Belieber for as long as I can remember. I hope that he comes back and does an amazing new album. I love his music. And in a crazy turn of events, I actually had the privilege to talk to people who are actually currently close to Justin.
And basically everything that I assumed about what's going on was confirmed. Now, as you guys probably know, I have been involved in this very weird entertainment industry for a long time now. And the news cycle, what we were hearing about Justin just wasn't sitting right with me. And my conversations with people in his circle have confirmed these theories.
And so my goal today is to start peeling back the layers of this onion for you, because I promise you, It is not as it seems. Now, before we dive into this story, make sure that you are following our podcast page and that you leave a rating if you enjoy the show. And I want to remind you guys that I am going on tour this spring.
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Chapter 2: What is Justin Bieber's early life and rise to fame story?
But his life pre-fame was nothing comfortable. This was not an affluent family. In one article he said, I remember being poor and being teased by other kids. He said, I remember sitting in restaurants with my mother and she'd make me order water instead of soda. I remember so badly wanting to order a soda. And I also remember that when we got my first big paycheck,
I was so glad to be able to use that money to take care of my mother." Despite this, her son displayed musical talent from an early age. He learned to play the piano, the drums, the guitar, and trumpet, singing in local talent competitions.
His mom would share videos of him performing R&B classics on YouTube for friends and family to see, little to just to know that these videos would lead to his eventual stardom. Like this is not just some kid who could sort of sing, like he truly is a musical genius. He is like a once in a lifetime talent. He has an ear for music that most people can't even comprehend.
And he was discovered at 12 years old when Scooter Braun watched one of his videos on YouTube. And after that, a bidding war started between Usher and Scooter Braun and Justin Timberlake to be able to sign him and launch his career. In the end, Usher won out. So it was Usher and Scooter Braun working together to sign Justin Bieber to start his career.
Raymond Braun Media Group, RBMG, and currently under the brand name Scooter Braun, is an American record label founded by R&B singer Usher and talent manager Scooter Braun in 2008 as a joint venture. The label was initially created for both parties to mutually manage the career and recording catalog of then rising teen pop star singer Justin Bieber.
As of 2025, Bieber remains the only artist to ever sign with this label. And in 2025, he is still in dealings with Scooter Braun, which we are going to get into in just a bit. And if you're like me, if you're Gen Z and you grew up in the era of the Bieber craze, you probably remember all of this, but he was everywhere. People could not get enough of him.
And as a child, he was hounded daily by hordes of fans, all of these girls of all ages, and the paparazzi would not leave him alone. It was Britney Spears level of paparazzi attention.
So that was the very beginning. That was the first time that he had ever encountered paparazzi. This was the very, very start of his career.
And you can see him there, and he's so cute, and he has the little, like, swoop haircut, and he's so excited about it, he's saying hi to everyone, and obviously if you've seen the videos now with how he's interacting with paparazzi over 15 years later after being hounded by them for his entire life, I think you can obviously see why he is treating them the way that he is today.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Justin face with paparazzi and industry pressures?
So insane. Like, this is an impossible environment to be a young person in, especially when your family doesn't have a lot of money, when you're not experienced in this and you're having to put your trust into other people who obviously are a lot more powerful than you are. From there, moving out of his teens, his career obviously grew into what we know it as today.
Tons of albums, huge tours, a massive relationship, and then public breakup with Selena Gomez. And much like what people say about Taylor Swift today is what they said about Justin Bieber. He was the music industry. He ran the music industry. But somewhere along the line, things went south and they started to change. But going back to laying out this timeline, now we find ourselves in 2018.
And this is where it really seemed like Justin's life took a turn possibly for the better, or objectively for the better, because he and his wife Haley got married. He had also deepened his faith. He had found God again. He'd come back to Christianity.
And then in 2019, he wanted to engage in other creative endeavors, so he started a clothing company called Drew House with his former stylist and his best friend Ryan Good. This is the friend who was the best man at his wedding, which will be important to remember in a later episode. Now, then moving on to 2021, Justin released his last album. We have not heard anything from him since.
That was the album called Justice. And then we get to 2022. Justin is dealing with severe health problems. He's dealing with the facial paralysis that we all saw happen on social media. He tries to go on tour because he has a tour scheduled, but he struggles to make it through. And he ends the year. He ends 2022 with Hypnosis purchasing his entire musical catalog for a reported $200 million. Why?
Did he sell his entire catalog? What was the reason for that? And there is one. So then we are finally getting caught up here in 2024. He really made a splash when he publicly parted ways with his manager, Scooter Braun. And at the time his team gave this quote to the press.
They said on Sunday, June 16th, representative for Justin Bieber told people exclusively that Scooter Braun and SB projects are not involved in Justin's current business or management and will not be involved moving forward. Justin is excited about the projects that he is currently working on and is focused on what is in front of him.
Now I'm just going to do a little PR reading into this because this is obviously a very specific and tailored, probably looked over by attorneys, contrived statement. And notice that he does not thank Scooter Braun. He's not saying we had such a great time together. I'm so grateful. He just says he is no way involved in what I am doing. He will not be in the future.
And I'm focused on what I can do now. My future projects. And that obviously set off alarm bells in my brain. I mean, obviously thinking about the Taylor Swift story, the Ariana Grande story with Scooter Braun, like things were not looking great for Scooter Braun at the time because basically everyone was leaving him and Justin Bieber was the last client that was shutting the door.
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Chapter 4: How did Justin Bieber's professional relationships evolve over time?
Now on the surface, because of these very perfectly contrived and placed statements and articles, people all thought that this was, you know, relatively normal and peaceful until early January, 2025, when Justin unfollowed Scooter Braun and blocked him on Instagram, along with other former collaborators and team members. You can see here, it made national news, global news, really.
And in my mind, as I'm reading into this, this was probably Justin's way of saying, I can't say anything. I can't say what I want to say, but I'm letting you all know where I stand. It's been almost a year of this, and I'm drawing my line in the sand.
Now, at the time, Billboard had also reported an interesting fact that even though Scooter had retired, and they had parted ways and were not working together in June of that year, they were still contractually linked. This is from that Billboard article. As of August 2023, Billboard reported that Bieber was still under contract for about four more years.
And guys, this is still based on the contract that he signed when he was like 13 years old. Four more years following a series of amendments to his deal with Braun made in 2020. In the same report, sources familiar with Bieber's business dealings said that he was focused on resolving his predicament with Braun at the time. This is literally from Billboard. This is not from me or who I talk to.
You can see it in Billboard. He is resolving a predicament based on the contract that he signed with this man when he was 13 years old. And I have now had to confirm that they are still in multiple hot legal battles, stemming from the fact that Justin wanted to walk away years ago. So we have to ask, could this be why he is lashing out?
Could this be why he is unhappy, why he's posting on Instagram saying, I'm filled with anger, I'm trying to control it, I don't know what's going on? Maybe because he's embroiled in a major legal battle trying to get his freedom again from a contract that he has been in for over 15 years. Now, all of this brings us back to the negativity, the publicity, and the press that he's been receiving.
And I honestly just have questions because all of this is kind of coincided with Selena Gomez making her comeback into the music industry, getting engaged to Benny Blanco, who also was connected to Justin Bieber because he produced a bunch of her music. So there's this whole like, just Hollywood and entertainment in general is so incestuous. You're going to see this in the story. It's so crazy.
But all of this coincided with Selena Gomez's new album. And many have now tried to tie Selena's album back to Justin Bieber, which has then just fueled the divorce rumors with Justin and Hailey. And I can tell you guys from what I have heard, none of that is true. They are not getting a divorce. They are very happy. And from what we know from Selena's own mouth, this album is not about Justin.
So basically, everybody just needs to stop with this and shut up and be silent, which is the perfect time for me to tell you guys about my sponsor, Silencer Shoppe. Now I know that you guys love your guns and love the Second Amendment, so now imagine kicking your shooting experience up a notch.
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Chapter 5: What are the legal and management conflicts involving Scooter Braun?
I think it's important for me to say that because I've evolved so much. I've experienced life with new people. She's saying it's not just about Justin. He's moved on. I've moved on. I've had to go through transitions with friends and lose people in my life and gain new people. I've had a whole new life forever. So it's up for whatever people want to interpret the songs as.
But to me, it was about both of our pasts and our history and also just inspired by friends and relationships. Like some songs were actually meant to be about friendships in my life. And I think that's what, to me, the album was about. And I just wanted to get that out there because that was really important to me.
She literally gave an entire quote without saying his name that this is not about him. This relationship that was so relevant in my life where I had so much press, everybody was talking about us, they still talk about us, they still pit Selena and Hailey together. It's not about that. And yet they continue to run these stories. Not just that, but say, oh, Hailey and Justin are on the rocks.
Oh, they're so unhappy. He's cheating on her. Oh, he posted this. What is the motivation? Why do you continue when you objectively have facts saying that that is not the case? Where is it coming from? So now I want to bring my friend Candace Owens into this.
Because last week, Candace uncovered that the same PR company that is embroiled in the Jessabelle Doney-Blake Lively case is the PR company that has represented Scooter Braun for years. A.K.A. Jones Works owned by Stephanie Jones. And this is what Candace had to say.
I am being told, unbelievably, that the PR firm that is engaging in this behind the scenes, and I'm gonna say allegedly here, is Stephanie Jones PR. Cannot make this up. The one that is engaged in the lawsuit right now with Justin Baldoni. And they're starting to realize that if you just start drumming up old beef, I mean, why are they? It looks like Selena Gomez has moved on.
She's getting married. She's doing tons of interviews with Benny Blanco. And they're all trying to make Justin Bieber believe that his wife is really a secret stalker that's ruining his life.
I mean, when I was watching Candace's episode last week, I basically burst out laughing because it is just so perfect that that fell into her lap. Like, it just could not be the most insane intersection of these stories. And it truly, it's truly wild. And again, it will just show you how incestuous this industry really is. Because it's not only Stephanie Jones and Jonesworks.
Because Scooter Braun and his company are also, this is confirmed, major stakeholders in the agency group PR. I mean, it's just so insane because there are three publicists that are named in the lawsuits between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. It is Jennifer Abel, it is Stephanie Jones, and it is Melissa Nathan who owns the agency group PR.
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Chapter 6: Are Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber actually getting divorced?
Now, one Variety article way back from 2011 was also talking about these arbitrations and said the whole point of arbitration was to get disputes through the system at a greater speed and lower cost. Plaintiffs, i.e. the stars and the creators suing studios, usually over their share of the back end, say it does neither.
The system, they say, has morphed into one that favors the studios, particularly when it comes to accounting and distribution of profits, and that is why it is now a studio standard to demand that contracts include arbitration clauses, because they know that it benefits them.
Not only benefits them because they have an advantage, but also they can quell a PR war that would come with any kind of public dispute or public lawsuit. So it's faster, but again, it's one person who maybe is in bed with other people deciding your fate. It's privately. It is David versus Goliath, no matter how famous you are, no matter if you are somebody like Justin Bieber.
And so because of this and because of the confidentiality, so many of these stories never get told. Or if they do, they're told years after the fact. Like Hayley Page was only last year finally able to share her story about what she went through to literally just get the right to use her name back.
It has now come out how authoritarian so many of these contracts are, the contracts that people signed when they were naive and young and had no support, and how all of this really just benefits the big institutions, the labels, not the artists. Now, the singer Jelly Roll, who I'm sure all of you guys know, he has famously been an independent artist for a very long time.
He waited a really long time to sign with anyone, I think, until he really started to understand the industry. But he broke down this entire relationship a couple of years ago on Bustin' with the Boys. Take a listen.
Now, the label owns the masters of the record. Now, the masters has the right to sync something, to put it on a TV show. The masters has the right to where it lives and doesn't live, to break it down in a beat format, to whatever they want to do with the master recording, right? Artist doesn't own the master. He's only participating in the royalties of the album.
When I say 70-30, that's a strong deal. It's a lot of artists on Music Row right now with 95-5s.
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Chapter 7: How is Selena Gomez's music related to Justin Bieber rumors?
And what he means is that the label would take 95% of what you make and you would get 5%. That you put in all the effort, you do all the creative, you write the songs, you record the songs, you are the music, and you only get 5% because they're saying, well, we're giving you a chance. And the fact is they're not even putting money in that you get to keep.
One thing that Jelly Roll says in this interview is that they will give you a loan. They'll say, okay, here's a million dollars to make your album, but you have to pay it back before you can even start making money. And you already have an insane disparity in the profits that you would be taking home after you pay back that million dollars.
So it's an incredibly slanted system on the side of the label.
So how do you make money then? And then touring and merch.
So how does touring work?
They got this new thing called a 360 deal, which is called ancillary participation, which means now not only do I want 95% of what your streaming does, I want 15% of what your touring does, gross. I want 15% of what your merch does, gross. I want 15% of your appearance fee, gross. I want 15% of everything you do, gross.
It is all encompassing. And I think 15% is probably very generous. I think usually in situations like this, it's more like 75 to 85% that they are taking of everything. And of course, I have to say that all of this is legal and people do sign these contracts so the labels are not in the wrong. And you know, if you are
somebody who's making a ton of money and you have a team that works hard for you, that you trust implicitly and you feel great about giving them that percentage, maybe this is not the worst thing in the world because you're still growing, you're making money, you're not losing money, especially for a new artist who needs that leg up.
Again, with a caveat, if you have people around you that you trust. But going back to our story, what about for an artist who has now lost trust in the people that are literally controlling him? All the while these people are making millions and millions of dollars and he's not seeing any of it.
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