It was the year of the gas mask. Honestly, if you try to explain Justin Bieber 2013 to someone who wasn't scrolling Twitter (now X) at the time, you sound like a conspiracy theorist. This wasn't just a pop star having a "rough patch." It was a tectonic shift in celebrity culture. One day he’s the bowl-cut kid singing "Baby," and the next, he’s fainting backstage at London’s O2 Arena and getting into shouting matches with paparazzi.
People forget how fast it happened.
He was 19. That’s a weird age for anyone, but for the biggest star on the planet, it was a pressure cooker with the lid taped shut. Everything about the Justin Bieber 2013 era felt chaotic because it was chaotic. We saw the transition from teen idol to "public enemy number one" in real-time, fueled by an exhausting world tour and a press cycle that seemed to feast on his every misstep.
The London Collapse and the Gas Mask Mystery
March 2013 was, quite frankly, a disaster. It’s often cited as the month the wheels officially came off. Bieber arrived in London for his Believe tour and immediately started making headlines for the wrong reasons. He showed up two hours late to his opening night. Parents were furious. Kids were crying in the stands. It was a mess.
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Then came the gas mask.
Nobody really knew why he was wearing a vintage-style gas mask while walking around London. Was it a fashion statement? Was he trying to hide from the cameras? Was it a literal cry for help or just a 19-year-old being edgy? A few days later, he collapsed on stage during a performance, citing breathing issues. He finished the show—because that’s what professionals do—but the image of him being hospitalized later that night became the defining visual of the Justin Bieber 2013 timeline.
Then, the paparazzi incident happened. You probably remember the video. Justin, wrapped in a hoodie, lunging toward a photographer while his security held him back. He was shouting. He was fed up. For the first time, the "Bieber" brand wasn't just about music; it was about conflict.
The Music of Justin Bieber 2013: Journals and a Shift in Sound
Despite the tabloid frenzy, the music was actually getting... good? Like, really good. While the news was busy talking about him being kicked out of a club or his pet monkey (we’ll get to Mally in a second), Justin was quietly pivoting toward R&B.
This was the birth of Journals.
He started "Music Mondays," releasing a new song every week for ten weeks. Tracks like "Heartbreaker" and "All That Matters" weren't the bubblegum pop of his earlier years. They were stripped back. They were mature. They dealt with heartbreak—specifically his very public, very messy off-and-on relationship with Selena Gomez. If you look back at Justin Bieber 2013 through a purely musical lens, you see an artist trying to find his soul amidst the noise.
Journals didn't get a massive traditional rollout. It was an experiment. It showed that despite the gas masks and the tardiness, he still cared about the craft. He was working with producers like Maejor Ali and Diplo, laying the groundwork for the massive comeback he’d have a few years later with Purpose.
The Mally the Monkey Incident
We have to talk about the monkey. It’s unavoidable.
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In late March 2013, Justin flew to Germany on his private jet. He brought along Mally, a capuchin monkey given to him as a birthday gift. German customs officials at the Munich airport weren't having it. He didn't have the right paperwork. They seized the monkey.
Instead of filing the papers to get Mally back, Justin eventually left the country without him. Mally became a ward of the German state. It sounds like a comedy sketch, but it was a PR nightmare. It painted a picture of a young man who was so disconnected from reality that he thought he could just carry a primate across international borders without a permit. The UN even got involved eventually, with experts criticizing the move. It was a weird, sad footnote in the Justin Bieber 2013 saga that reinforced the "spoiled star" narrative the media loved to push.
Anne Frank and the Burden of Fame
One of the most controversial moments of the year happened in Amsterdam. Justin visited the Anne Frank House. By all accounts, he spent over an hour there and was genuinely moved. But then, he signed the guestbook.
"Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber."
The internet exploded.
People called him narcissistic. They called him tone-deaf. But if you look at it from a different perspective, he was a 19-year-old kid trying to connect with a historical figure in the only way he knew how—through the lens of his own life. The museum actually defended him, saying his visit was a positive thing. But in the context of Justin Bieber 2013, everything he touched turned into a scandal.
The Physical Toll of the Believe Tour
The Believe World Tour was a beast. 150+ shows. It started in 2012 and wrapped up at the end of 2013. By the time he hit South America late in the year, he was clearly exhausted.
In Brazil, things got even weirder. There were rumors of him being kicked out of a hotel. He was filmed sleeping by a woman who had been in his villa. He spray-painted a wall in Rio de Janeiro, which is a crime in Brazil, and ended up facing a fine.
You could see the fatigue in his eyes during the Believe documentary, which was released on Christmas Day 2013. The film was supposed to be a victory lap, but it felt more like a document of a young man reaching his breaking point. He even joked—or maybe he wasn't joking—about retiring.
"I’m actually retiring, man," he told a radio host in December. His management quickly walked it back, but the sentiment was clear. He was done.
Why 2013 Matters for Pop History
Looking back, Justin Bieber 2013 was the blueprint for how we treat young stars in the digital age. It was the first time we saw a massive, global breakdown happen in 140 characters or less.
There’s a nuance here that people missed at the time. We were watching a teenager go through his rebellious phase, but instead of doing it in a basement or a high school parking lot, he was doing it in front of 50 million followers. He was lonely. He was surrounded by "yes men." He was struggling with the transition from being a "product" to being a person.
If 2013 didn't happen, we wouldn't have the version of Justin Bieber we see today. It was the fire that burned everything down so he could rebuild. He had to lose the "clean-cut" image because it was a lie. No 19-year-old is that perfect.
Lessons from the Bieber "Dark Year"
- Burnout is real: Even with all the money in the world, 150 shows in a year is unsustainable for a developing brain.
- The pivot is necessary: Journals proved that artistic growth can happen even when personal life is a wreck.
- Media literacy: Most of the "outrages" of 2013 were blown out of proportion for clicks.
How to Revisit This Era Today
If you want to understand the shift in his career, don't just read the old TMZ headlines. Go back and listen to the Journals album from start to finish. It’s arguably his most honest work. Watch the Believe movie with a skeptical eye—look at the background, the exhaustion, and the way he interacts with his team.
The best way to analyze Justin Bieber 2013 is to look for the humanity behind the headlines. He wasn't a villain; he was a kid who was overwhelmed by a world that refused to let him grow up in private.
Next Steps for Deep Diving into 2013 Pop Culture:
- Listen to "PYD" and "Roller Coaster": These tracks define the R&B shift he took during the Music Mondays series.
- Compare the "Believe" and "Purpose" documentaries: You can see the literal physical and emotional change in his demeanor between 2013 and 2015.
- Research the "Great Paparazzi War": Look at how laws regarding celebrity photography changed or were debated following the 2013 incidents in London and LA.
- Evaluate the "Mally" legacy: Check out the current status of the Serengeti Park in Copenhagen, where his former pet eventually found a home.