Despite Coachella being the first time the couple has so explicitly turned their relationship into a marketing ploy, the pair have been acutely aware of the commercial impact of their marriage for years, with Justin appearing at Rhode events and Hailey a frequent presence at his performances, says Annie Corser, senior trends editor for pop culture and media at Stylus. “However, what they have maintained until recently is an awareness of the distinction between their fan bases and frameworks of appeal.”
“Justin offers millennial staying power, and while he may have moved on musically, his appeal is mixed up with nostalgia for the Americana of the 2010s. Hailey, a zillennial, gives Justin some Gen Z credibility, and while her girl-boss energy might feel outdated affixed to another celebrity, she has tuned the tone of her ambition so it feels a natural fit for the TikTok/Instagram/podcast media pipeline and cultural discourse younger fans deal in,” Corser adds. “That creates a broad, solid market segment for them to appeal to. Together, they occupy a position in pop culture that feels both familiar and able to refresh, allowing them to build distinct identities within the known quantity of their relationship.”
Owning controversy
It’s not always been rosy for the Biebers. Justin, as widely documented by the press, has experienced many ups and downs in the court of public opinion, as he grappled with superstardom in his teens and early twenties, and like many stars was goaded and placed under intense pressure from the paparazzi. In 2022, he canceled his Purpose tour, citing personal reasons, which later, in his YouTube Originals documentary Justin Bieber: Seasons, were revealed to be addiction and mental health struggles. Hailey also became a polarizing figure when the two got married, as some Bieber fans opposed their coupling in the wake of his former relationship with Selena Gomez.
Bieber ran into controversy again last year, when an argument with a paparazzo at the beach went viral online, in the now famous “it’s not clocking to you” rant. But the Biebers understand how to subvert a narrative. Justin featured the tirade on his album Swag, while Hailey continually made quips referencing the outburst once the album was released (“Is it clocking to you yet?” she wrote on Instagram). They then used the slogan on Coachella merch, emblazoned across T-shirts. Justin even played the clip on stage and lip synced along, receiving laughs from the audience.
It’s this approach, creating in-jokes with the fans, and acknowledging their haters, that is only serving to boost the Biebers’ star power.
This manifests in the Biebers’ often incongruous couples dressing. In a now infamous appearance in New York while promoting Rhode, Hailey stepped out in a strapless red silk mini dress and stilettos, with Justin by her side in oversized gray sweats and Crocs. The look went viral, and inspired scores of Halloween outfits that October, noted Eileen Cartter, style editor at GQ, who has reported extensively on the Biebers’ style, and asked Hailey about their opposing style in an interview in 2023.
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