It can be scary and soul-killing to be famous, especially when you’re a kid. That’s what Justin Bieber has been trying to tell fans, and that’s what he sang on “Saturday Night Live” in his heart-wrenching new song “Lonely.”
He quietly started the song backstage in his dressing room, singing to himself in the mirror.
“What if you had it all but nobody to call? Maybe then you’d know me,” he sang. ”’Cause I’ve had everything, but no one’s listening, and that’s just oh so lonely. I’m so lonely.”
He walked through the halls of the studio to the stage, singing: “Everybody saw me sick, and it felt like no one gave a [shit]. They criticized the things I did as an idiot kid.”
Bieber released the music video of the song on Friday at midnight. It features his vocals but stars 14-year-old Jacob Tremblay from “Room” as a young Bieber, grappling with success and pain.
Earlier on “SNL,” Bieber belted out another new song, “Holy,” a mix of religion and love for wife Hailey Baldwin Bieber on a set that looked a bit like a manger with a neon cross. He was joined by Chance the Rapper, his collaborator on the track.
Check out both performances in the video up top and here:
Calling all HuffPost superfans!
Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost’s next chapter
