New Justin Bieber (Kind of) Dropping

ABLUpdated 1 week Ago7 Mins read4

Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: TikTok (@hopegodwin12, @justinbernardez_)

Beliebe it: TikTok’s favorite fake Justin Bieber song is headed to streaming platforms for real. “Benny,” a short earworm that features lyrics like “If I was with Selena, I would still be treating her better than you,” sounds enough like Bieber singing that some people have been pranked into believing that it is a messy look into his actual feelings toward his wife, Hailey; his ex Selena Gomez; and his ex’s fiancé, Benny Blanco. This viral moment began with an a cappella video from TikToker Hope Godwin, who says she has loved Bieber since she was “super, super little” and grew up on his music. “Some of my friends recognized that I could do a good impression of him later on in life, and so I just started posting on my TikTok,” she tells Vulture. “But I’ve been trying to mimic him since I was a little kid.” All that practice paid off; her impression in the “Benny” video has garnered nearly 27 million views to date.

When fellow TikToker Justin Bernardez first stumbled across the track, he couldn’t believe it wasn’t actually a young Bieber. Adding a beat under her vocals, the internet rewarded him with more than 8.5 million views. “This whole experience is kind of surreal,” Bernardez says. “I’m really grateful that this is being received really, really well, and that people are able to see Hope’s talent, because she is a phenomenal singer — sounding like Justin Bieber or not, she’s so good.” The pair are meeting up in Los Angeles this week to record an official version of “Benny” ahead of its planned release date — which could potentially be followed by the release of the other Bieber songs Godwin has been posting this month. “I am so extremely blessed to have everything that I have right now,” she adds. “I genuinely feel like this is just the beginning of something really, really cool, and so I can only give thanks to God for that.” That’s exactly what Justin Bieber would say.

Who are Hope Godwin and Justin Bernardez?

Los Angeles–based content creator Hope Godwin is currently the internet’s premier Bieber vocal impersonator. In December 2024, she posted a video where she imagined that Bieber was playing Boq in Wicked. The resulting rendition of “Dancing Through Life” shocked the internet with how much her voice sounded like a younger Bieber’s. (“Ho is you Bieboq?” a TikTok commenter asked, while Frankie Grande declared on Instagram, “I’m. Gagged.”) Singing as Bieber in a big beanie quickly became her digital niche — Godwin’s version of him has done everything from getting cast as Glinda to covering Chappell Roan. But she’s also posted multiple popular song covers in her own voice and style, and tells Vulture that she has plans to release music of her own “at some point, maybe later this year.”

Justin Bernardez, who learned how to produce thanks to “a lot of YouTube” and “trial and error,” went viral during the COVID lockdown for making TikToks that provide an auditory answer to questions like, “What would it sound like if Drake and DaBaby or Charli D’Amelio and Blueface made a song together?” Bernardez splits time between Los Angeles and Nashville, flying back and forth every couple of weeks. He was previously a singer in the boyband Airspoken, and also releases music as a solo artist.

How did “Benny” and the other songs come to be?

On March 31, Godwin posted what she described as “Justin Bieber’s unreleased song from new album called ‘Benny’” on TikTok. “Ayo Benny / Beliebe me,” she sang as she beatboxed. “If I was with Selena, I would still be treating her better than you.” The lyrics are a clear reference to Bieber’s ex, Selena Gomez, who is now engaged to Benny Blanco and recently released a joint album with him. Fans had also just noticed on March 30 that Hailey Bieber was no longer following Justin on Instagram (which she later claimed was a glitch). And earlier that month, reports had claimed that Hailey was pursuing legal action over a viral seven-part series alleging that she had previously stalked Justin and Gomez.

After “Benny” blew up — it currently has 26.7 million views — Godwin went on to write several other songs from Bieber’s POV. She describes her songwriting approach for these tracks as “pretty nonchalant,” noting that the entire process can happen in the span of a single morning. She’ll come up with a rough draft while “singing some random stuff about Justin and Selena” as she drives to the gym for a workout. “I’ll record a little bit of it, just to remember it. After the gym, I’ll practice it on the way back to my apartment,” Godwin explains. “And then once I hit my apartment, I put on my beanie — because I keep my beanie in my car — and then I just hit record. Hopefully it goes well, and then I post it literally while I’m getting ready for work.”

Bernardez is also a fast worker. When he first stumbled across Godwin singing “Benny” a cappella, he said he immediately had an “entire beat” in mind. “I was like, I have to get this out of my head,” he says. “And I made it in … definitely less than 15 minutes from the time I saw the video.” The result went viral, with 8.5 million views to date. Some of her subsequent tracks have taken him a little longer to put together — Bernardez describes an “intricate” process where he sometimes needs to manually go in and move every word Godwin sings to be on beat with the music he creates — but on average, he still estimates that he never takes over half an hour.

Bernardez, who has posted videos adding beats to all of Godwin’s faux-Bieber songs so far, reached out to her at one point on Instagram to say that she was “amazing.” He initially thought that he could go to L.A. to acknowledge their connected viral moment by making some “fun TikToks” together. “But then she said, ‘We should actually put the song out,’” he explains. “And I was like, ‘I’m down. We should just put an album out at that point.” It also didn’t hurt that the “easy, mutual decision” to officially release the track on streaming platforms was something that the comments section had been requesting for days.

And there are other songs?

Yup. As of April 8, Godwin has shared six “unreleased” Bieber songs, all of which are peppered with references to his real life and relationships. “G Tattoo,” for example, uses wordplay about his wife and his ex’s beauty companies (“You’re so Rare, she’s going down this Rhode”) to nod at the rumor that Hailey was copying Gomez. On one track, Godwin sings that the “Only Murder in the Building” that will happen is “your relationship,” and then goes on to name-drop Gomez’s Hulu co-stars: “Steve Martin ain’t gon’ save you / Neither is Martin Short / ’Cause he’s Canadian just like me / And they’re both on my side / They wish we was alright / They wish we had the time to relive the past.” On another track, she declares, “Man, I was the mascot for Ellen DeGeneres / So Ellen be generous, and never have me on your show again.” Godwin is still adjusting to the fact that many people are unironically enjoying this music. “I was live the other day on TikTok, and all these people were requesting that I sing my song ‘Unibrow,’’’ she recalls. “And I’m just like, that’s the weirdest sentence I’ve ever heard in my life.”

If the response to the official release of “Benny” is good, Godwin says that she and Bernardez might also record some of these other tracks. And in the meantime, there could be more songs on the way — the comments section has certainly been clamoring for a track about the rumors of how many times Bieber allegedly called Gomez on his wedding day.

So are we getting an extended version of “Benny”?

Godwin sings for less than a minute and 20 seconds in the original “Benny” video, which makes for a pretty short song. But according to Bernardez, when the pair hit the studio this week, they don’t intend on adding an extra verse. Although Godwin initially wanted to, Bernardez told her that from his personal experience with going viral, he’s learned that most listeners just want to be able to stream what they’ve already heard. “Introducing another variable could be a hit or a miss,” he explains. “I think it’s safer just to give the people exactly what they love already — and if they want more, then put out a part two. It could change, but as of right now, that’s the plan.”

When is “Benny” dropping?

According to Godwin, she and Bernardez are aiming to drop the song on April 18, which gives them about a week after recording to get it up on streaming platforms.

Does anyone really think this is a real Bieber track?

That’s exactly what a recent TikTok trend is trying to test. People have been pranking their loved ones by telling them that Bernardez’s version (or Godwin’s original a capella) is a leaked Bieber track. Reaction videos have featured everyone from an empath of a mom who teared up due to the lyrics to a sister who appeared more surprised to hear Bieber sing “I love Hailey” than to hear any other part of the track.

Has Benny Blanco heard any of these songs?

He has yet to publicly comment on the songs. But it seems highly likely that at least one of the videos has reached his “For You” page; Blanco is fairly active on TikTok and has posted ten videos since March 31, the day Godwin first posted “Benny.” It’s also worth noting that Blanco does currently follow Bernardez on X (though it’s not clear whether or not he’d already heard Godwin sing “Ayo Benny”).

Has Justin Bieber heard any of these songs?

He hasn’t publicly acknowledged his soundalike yet. But both Godwin and Bernardez have considered the possibility that their content has reached the real singer. “My biggest hope is that he finds it funny and it’s lighthearted, because I genuinely love him so much,” Godwin says. (She has left multiple comments on her videos to indicate that, asserting that her content is “a joke” and that she’s “not a hater.”) “His music has inspired me for years and years and years,” she continues. “I would be so, so happy if he responded.” Bernardez, a self-described “big fan” who saw Bieber on the Justice Tour, has expressed to his followers that he hopes he and Godwin will not be subject to legal action because they are creating a work of parody. “I was listening to Justin Bieber when every guy was hating on Justin Bieber,” Bernardez says with pride. “So for me, this is a really funny and cool full-circle moment … if he’s seen our content, I would just hope that he loved it.”