Months after the release of the almost-summer jam (it didn’t quite hit like “Controlla” or “One Dance”), DJ Khaled and Drake have shared the long-awaited visuals for “Popstar.” And the music video features the pop star of modern pop stars himself, Mr. Justin Bieber.
It’s likely that Bieber was always going to appear in the visuals — Drake name checks his friend and past collaborator in the song quite a bit. Ever the thespian, the rapper dramatically calls in a favor after being hounded by DJ Khaled to shoot the video for “Popstar.” Cue the Biebs.
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“Popstar” feels like a tongue-in-cheek reference to Bieber’s wilder days as a pop star. Surrounded by women, booze, and a posse of friends who are at his beck and call, the singer invites us into the life of the rich and famous. An iced-out and fur-clad Bieber goes from partying to shooting a video to partying all over again, mouthing the lyrics to Drake’s song all the while.
"Bitches callin' my phone like I'm locked up, nonstop," raps Bieber with braggadocio as he moves through his massive mansion. "I'm a pop star, not a doctor."
In a major plot twist, the luxe montage turns out to be a dream. At the end of the video, Bieber awakens in his bed, his wife Hailey beside him — no girls, no Scooter Braun, no endless stream of Moët champagne. He's simply not that guy anymore.
“I had this crazy dream,” he tells Hailey. “Drake asked me to be in this video, but he wasn’t in the video...it was just a bunch of people.” Only for Drake to hit his line minutes later.
"Popstar" is the second single from DJ Khaled's upcoming twelfth studio album Khaled Khaled; it's Drake's seventh collaboration with the super producer and Bieber's second. The video already has over a two million views, with Beliebers and Team OVO alike spamming the comments section on YouTube.
"Drake really said 'shit don't even get this big without a Bieber face'," wrote one fan. "Now I understand what he meant."
Real popstar shit.