Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj made a time capsule with “Beauty and a Beat,” a 2012 EDM-pop record that refuses to age even when the calendar says otherwise.
Zedd and Max Martin built the beat, with Zedd originally writing it for his own project before it landed with Bieber. The result became the third single from *Believe*, and it still sounds like a party that never got the memo to end.
What makes the track work is how it handles its own silliness. Bieber sings about partying like it’s 3012, a line that should feel dated but instead reads like a permanent invitation. Minaj slides in for a verse that name-checks Selena Gomez, then exits before the song can lean on her too hard. The production stays busy without turning messy, all rushing synths and drum machines built for a dance floor that exists in a future nobody has to think about.
Then something strange happened years later. Bieber’s 2026 Coachella set included the song, and streams exploded. It hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, pulling tens of millions of streams a week more than a decade after release. Minaj wasn’t onstage for the Coachella moment, but the song kept climbing long after the festival ended. Savan Kotecha, one of the co-writers, said his kids thought it was a new song when it came back.
For a record that was never meant to be more than a fun single, that kind of second life is rare. “Beauty and a Beat” did not need a reunion tour or a remaster. It just needed someone to press play again.
Press play on “Beauty and a Beat” and tell me whether the Coachella bump changed how you hear it.
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