Justin Bieber Beef With One Direction Gets Serious

Up until very recently, the feud between Justin Bieber and One Direction, sparked by their respective announcements that their albums will be released on the same day, has seemed to be in good humor. However, a radio appearance by Bieber on Sunday showed that he is not amused by the tiff. He is, in fact, quite bitter about it.

Bieber and One Direction are two of the hotter acts in popular music at the moment, and their respective new albums have both been long anticipated. When Justin finally announced the release date of his new album, which has since been revealed to be titled Purpose, a few weeks ago, One Direction quickly responded by announcing the release date of their album, Made in the A.M. – on the same day as Bieber had chosen.

Justin made the first move in the feud that ensued. On September 29, Bieber took to Snapchat and sent out a very short video mocking one direction.

“The face you make when you come out with an album on the same day as Justin Bieber,” Justin says to the camera in the video.

He then makes a scared-looking wince and recoils, suggesting that One Direction should be very afraid of the competition that their album sales will face what with being released on the same day as the next Bieber work.

Directioners – as the One Direction fans are called – did not take kindly to the Bieber barb, and their comments on Twitter and other social media involving the diss were vicious.

Presumably to defuse some of the tension, Louis Tomlinson of One Direction Snapchatted his own video.

Louis on snapchat earlier pic.twitter.com/IsQg8vy3ZE

— One Direction Update (@the1Dscene) September 30, 2015

“That face you pull when you’re playing the last night at the O2,” Tomlinson says in the video before making a comical expression of happiness.

Tomlinson was referring to a prestigious venue at which One Direction just finished performing.

Tomlinson’s video is sillier than the one Justin posted and focuses on humor rather than dissing someone else, so it seemed like it was an act of good will.

A One Direction insider even came right out and said the band members thought the Snapchat video Bieber had sent is hilarious.

“It’s kind of like an inside joke they have and will continue to play off of each other. The guys didn’t take it as a diss. In fact, they will most likely come out with something on their own about their release date and how Justin should be concerned.”

One Direction was obviously trying to downplay the Bieber feud and turn it into a friendly banter session.

When Bieber went on New Zealand radio station The Edge several days ago, though, he did not seem ready to laugh off his beef with One direction and their fans. Instead, Justin threw some serious shade.

“[They’re] not really going on the road much, but we’re talking about them now, so it gives them some promo, right? So, that’s probably why they did it… I think it was strategy on their part because my release date was first. But, whatever. It’s whatever.”

Justin said this without the hint of a smile and sounded dead serious; one could tell that Bieber was not playing into the “friendly feud” situation One Direction tried to create.

Unreality TV speculates on what Justin was getting at with the statement.

“What Bieber is really trying to say is that One Direction weren’t in the spotlight and decided they needed something to catapult them into the spotlight to sell their new album. The execs found out Bieber’s album would be out on November 13 and thought that they would release One Direction’s new album on the same day as it would get people talking.”

One can understand why Justin Bieber might be frustrated, too. He has been out of the music business for years, and he needs to have a successful album release if he hopes to recapture his former popularity. Is One Direction trying to snipe their competition by releasing their album on the same date, thereby detracting from the Bieber album sales? Leave your opinions on the matter in the comments below.

[Image via Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images and Christopher Polk/Getty Images]