Justin Bieber Is M.I.A. At The Grammys For A Very Understandable Reason

Due much in part to his surprise wedding to Hailey Baldwin at the end of last year, Justin Bieber has been in the tabloids a good deal as of late. Yet it's been a while since he's put out new music, so it's no surprise that Justin Bieber isn't at the 2019 Grammys.

In the weeks leading up to this year's Grammys, there were plenty of reasons to assume that Bieber would not make an appearance. First of all, it's been four years since he's released an album. The singer put out Purpose in 2015, and subsequently cancelled the last leg of his tour in support of that album to essentially work on himself.

"Just thinking about music stresses me out," he recently told Vogue for its March 2019 cover story, adding, "I’ve been successful since I was 13, so I didn’t really have a chance to find who I was apart from what I did. I just needed some time to evaluate myself: who I am, what I want out of my life, my relationships, who I want to be — stuff that when you’re so immersed in the music business you kind of lose sight of."

Then there's the fact that Bieber decided to skip the Grammys in both 2017 and 2018, despite being nominated in multiple categories. In 2017, Purpose was nominated for both Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Love Yourself" was up for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Even though Bieber didn't end up winning in any of those categories, it wasn't his fierce competition that reportedly caused him to stay home. According to a source for TMZ, the singer skipped the 2017 awards because "he just doesn't think the Grammys are relevant or representative, especially when it comes to young singers."

In 2018, Bieber scored three more nominations — Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance —  for his feature on the remix of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's smash hit "Despacito." Again, he didn't attend the ceremony, and again, he lost out.

That year, a source for TMZ told the outlet that Bieber wouldn't be making award show appearances until he finished his next album. Now, though, it kind of seems like he probably just needed a break.

Honestly, it's really not that much of a shocker that Bieber didn't show up at the Grammys this year. First of all, he wasn't even nominated for anything. Second of all, he just got married. He's legitimately still in the honeymoon phase with Baldwin, and taking time to go to the Grammys probably wasn't his first priority.

While some fans might be disappointed that Bieber didn't end up hitting the Grammys red carpet this year, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? He'll be back when he's ready, and maybe next year, he'll have some new music to share, too.