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Jaden Smith And Justin Bieber Team Up, Perform ‘Never Say Never’ Together As Adults For The First Time [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 13:08 PST, Jul 22, 2016

Jaden Smith made a surprise, live-on-stage appearance with Justin Bieber on July 19 in New York. The former child stars joined one another in a 2016 rendition of the iconic tune “Never Say Never,” which helped launch Bieber to fame over half a dozen years ago. The original Jaden Smith version of the Bieber track ended up being included in the Never Say Never 3-D film that came out in 2011.

Justin Bieber, 22, has been like a big brother as well as a career confidante to Jaden Smith, 18, since the pair were both still young kids among Hollywood’s elite royalty.

According to the pair, their friendship and professional relationship has stayed strong, enduring years of Hollywood drama. Following the impromptu performance, Justin Bieber shared an Instagram post of him hugging Jaden, a photo that Jaden Smith later shared with the world himself, reports MTV News.

Justin Bieber is currently in the middle of his Purpose tour and was on stage at Madison Square Garden when he called Smith up on stage for the crowd-wowing surprise duet. It was the first time the pair had shared the Madison Square Garden stage in over half a decade.

Fans of Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith alike were stoked about the awesome reunion, and they took to social media to share their excitement. After all, it’s been seven years since the pair last pulled something like Tuesday’s show off. Who knows when it might happen again?

The unexpected on-stage reunion of Jaden Smith and Justin Bieber comes at a critical time in Smith’s young life and career. Jaden just turned 18, and he’s working diligently to make the transition from child actor to full-fledged adult artist. While he has an impressive portfolio already, a resume that includes being the first male face of Louis Vuitton’s woman’s fashion, being involved in numerous successful feature films, trying his luck in the music world, and even co-starring in a new hit Netflix series, he wants to do more

Indeed, despite Jaden’s career success, and despite being rumored to be worth a cool $8 million already, the young Mr. Smith is on the verge of releasing his first full-length solo album. He’s been teasing it for months, and fans have been waiting with bated breath since he started dropping hints.

On the night of his 18th birthday, Jaden Smith “leaked” a song on social media that his fans hope will be the first single of his anticipated upcoming album. Titled “LABOR V2,” the song tells the tale of a young man transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Indeed, most of the lyrics involve the words “eighteen, eighteen, eighteen, yeah.”

Jaden is rumored to be collaborating with Kanye West on the album. Could his recent unexpected duet with Justin Bieber mean that Jaden Smith fans will hear some Bieber on the album, too?

Maybe.

Jaden Smith’s new song is more than just an ode to teen angst. The super-conscientious Smith also used his “leaked” track to comment on the current U.S. strife involving young African-American males and law enforcement.

“And how many times am I telling them/ Just because you see the melanin doesn’t mean that I’m a felon/ I’m here to show you the intelligence.”

Despite Jaden Smith’s public support for the African-American community, support buttressed by the lyrics of his new song, pal Justin Bieber hasn’t been quite so supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement. In fact, Bieber has faced some serious criticism for refusing to publicly support BLM, as well as for some comments his mom made about “All Lives Matter.”

Regardless of the politics, though, Justin and Jaden seem to have kept their friendship strong since they were little more than Hollywood beginners.

What do you think about Jaden Smith and Justin Bieber’s one-song reunion?

[Photo by Matt Sayles/AP Images]

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