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Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber’s “Stuck With U” Review

Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande are two of the biggest pop stars in the world. Bieber first became known in 2009 with his single “One Time” but really blew up as a teen heartthrob with his biggest song “Baby.” Grande was first known as an actress in Nickelodeon’s Victorious, but quickly transitioned into a pop singer in 2013 and is well known for her songs like “7 Rings” and “Thank u, Next.” The two first met in 2011 when Bieber was a special guest on Grande’s show, and have remained friendly throughout the years as they both have the same manager, Scooter Braun. Despite their success with their solo careers, multiple collaborations with other artists, and several performances together at concerts, the two have only come together on a song for a remix of Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” Although it finally took a global pandemic for the two to collaborate, the two singers teamed up to release the song “Stuck With U.”

“Stuck With U” was announced on Friday, May 1 and was officially released on May 8. Both artists mentioned how all net profits from the song would go to a non-profit organization entitled First Responders Children’s Foundation. This organization is dedicated to helping provide the necessary resources for the children of first responders in order for them to succeed. It was revealed that it would be a song that people could slow dance to, as many are missing out on prom thanks to the coronavirus. Prior to the release of the song, Bieber and Grande released a thirty second snippet of just the beat of the song. They asked for fans to send in videos of themselves dancing with loved ones or animals or in their prom dresses. As a countdown for the song, they released several clips that fans had sent in. I thought this was a clever strategy as it gave incentive to fans and anyone who wants a second of fame to send a clip in that could be on both of Bieber and Grande’s social media pages. 

Before the song was released, I was extremely nervous as I loved Grande’s last album but was very disappointed by Bieber’s last album Changes. The song was something I was looking forward to, and it met my expectations. I like the song a lot, but it is something I know I will listen to on repeat for the next couple weeks and then forget about it. It is a simple cute song but it is nothing really worth losing your mind over. The song began with Grande, which I liked as I have not heard her vocals in a longer time than Bieber’s. Grande has an amazing voice, so obviously I was not disappointed. Bieber also has a great voice, but sometimes it feels as though he overdoes it with unnecessary runs. He first sings in the song in the second verse, and although there were some moments where I thought he overdid it, I thought he did an excellent job. Hearing him sing on a song like this reminded me of why I like his music and reminded me of how talented he is. I loved the combination of their voices together, and I am very glad that it is a slow ballad instead of an upbeat song with a trap remix. Although it is not the best song in the world or either of their best collaboration, it certainly is a very cute song worth listening to.

As previously mentioned, many fans submitted videos of them dancing to the main beat of the song, and some were featured on Bieber and Grande’s social media pages as a countdown. Because a proper music video could not be filmed because of the pandemic, these clips were part of the music video. The main parts of the music video featured Grande and Bieber, as Grande was featured with her dog and Bieber was seen walking around his big Canadian property with his wife Hailey. The music video also featured some celebrity appearances, such as Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Demi Lovato, Chance the Rapper, Michael Buble, and Stephen Curry. These clips were mixed in with the fan clips, therefore I had to either pause or go back a couple seconds to see the appearances. The video also ended with an appearance by Grande’s boyfriend, confirming rumors that she had been seeing someone new. This, in addition to the feature of the celebrities, I believe was a smart move to get more people to see the music video. I certainly watched the music video more than once as a result. In addition, seeing the music video also made me like the song more as it gave me very warm feelings inside. My only real criticism of the music video was that sometimes the fan clips were too fast, so it made it difficult to pause and really see everything. But overall, I thought the music video really added to the song. It will be interesting to see how music videos are now made as musicians are still creating music at home. I can guarantee that more homemade music videos will be done until it is safe again to be on the set of a music video, and I truly think other artists should take a similar approach to what Bieber and Grande did.