Usher has explained why Justin Bieber turned down his Super Bowl invitation.
The 45-year-old star was eager to have his 29-year-old former protege join him on stage for his Super Bowl half time performance last weekend but Usher revealed that Justin – who attended the game as a spectator – declined his request to join him on stage.
He told ‘The Breakfast Club’: “I think it might have just been that he’s just wanting to tell a different story right now, and I did understand that. We did have a brief conversation, and we’re gonna do something else in the future.
“No love lost or anything like that. It’s a lot of pressure for the Super Bowl, obviously, for me to put together a show. I reached out to everybody. Justin wasn’t the only person I spoke to about doing the Super Bowl, but the moment was maybe for later.”
However, Usher predicted: “[Bieber is] going to play the Super Bowl… I’ll go ahead and give you that for the future. I profess that over his life because he has a career that deserves it. It just didn’t happen, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to.”
Usher played a major role in the launch of Justin’s career in the late 2000s after record executive Scooter Braun had spotted the teenager singing on YouTube and convinced the ‘Yeah!’ hitmaker to meet with the budding star.
He met Justin in 2009 and after being impressed by his voice, signed him to his label RBMG where he quickly released the megahit hit singles ‘One Time’, ‘One Less Lonely Girl’, ‘Baby’ and the multi-million selling album ‘My World 2.0’.
Justin is the only artist to ever have been signed to the label as of 2024 and RBMG also has a special profit-sharing business deal with Def Jam, which is owned by Def Jam Recordings, which is owned by Universal Music Group.