Keith Richards’ opinion on Justin Bieber

When Justin Bieber was born in London, Ontario, Canada in 1994, the Rolling Stones was about to release their album “Voodoo Lounge” and had already more than 20 records on their discography. At the time, Keith Richards was already on the road with the Stones for three decades and had seen the music business evolve. Since then a lot changed and Richards saw up-close the transformation of the music business. New famous and successful artists appeared and of course, one of them was Bieber, who started his career in 2007.

Since then he became one of the best-selling artists of all time, with an estimated amount of more than 150 million records worldwide. Besides being known as an influential guitarist and songwriter, Richards is also recalled for his sincerity and he gave his opinion on many artists, including Bieber.

What is Keith Richards’ opinion on Justin Bieber

Well, as you may expect, Richards doesn’t have good things to say about the Canadian star. In an interview with GQ Magazine in 2015 called his music “a load of crap”. But he first mentioned Taylor Swift saying: ‘Taylor is a pretty girl. I don’t think about the competition. I mean they’re the flavor of the month. Aren’t they?’” Then he recalled meeting Bieber face to face: “Actually I met this guy and found him quite humble, as he should be.” But then, gave his opinion on his work, saying: “His music? I mean it’s a load of crap isn’t it?” Keith Richards said.

According to US Weekly, Richards had no idea who Bieber was when they met each other. The Canadian artist reportedly also didn’t know who Keith was. After talking for a while, the Stones guitarist told the artist that he was a “wannabe”.

They were both celebrating new year’s eve at a tiny beach bar on the luxe Parrot Cay Island in the Turks and Caicos.  The sources of the US Weekly said that “There was an old guy throwing back drinks who said, ‘Who the f–k are you? (To Bieber)’. The Pop star then said: “I don’t know, who the f–k are you?”

“Apparently satisfied with that answer, the older gent smiled and said, ”You’re a man. I respect that,’ then walked away.’ It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when ‘another old guy and came over and told Justin, ‘Keith Richards wants to have a drink with you,” US Weekly said.

Richards then called him a “wannabe”

They finally were drinking together and then Richards reportedly said to him “Let’s get one thing straight. You’re a wannabe”. Although it’s not a good thing to hear, they reportedly continued to drink together and had a good time.

Bieber released in 2010 his debut album “My World 2.0” which had the hit song “Baby”. The track became one of the best-selling singles of all time, selling almost 4 million copies. The videoclip of that song was streamed more than 3 billion times on Youtube. Since then he released five more studio albums, the most recent one being “Justice” in 2021.