Bieber suggested the two play hockey for the title in a good-humored comment on Mendes' latest Instagram post.
Justin Bieber isn’t giving up his prince of pop title so easily!
After fellow Canadian heartthrob, Shawn Mendes, covered a magazine with the headline, “Prince of Pop,” Bieber couldn’t help slipping into the comments and challenging him for the title.
“Hmm. Gonna have to break a few more records to dethrone my title there bud (canadian voice),” Bieber wrote after Mendes posted the Observer Magazine cover on his Instagram account. “But if you want we can play hockey for it but i heard your a real bender on the ice we could just drop the buckets and tilt for it.”
While Bieber, 25, meant the comment in good fun, it wasn’t long before some fans hit back, prompting the “Sorry” singer to point out it was just a joke.
“There is no competition and it was a playful joke people relax,” he wrote on the thread of more than 6,000 responses to his original comment. “There’s no sides we’re all just here to make dope music. I’m just [as] competitive as he is … so it was just a little playful jargon.”
The magazine, a supplement published in The Guardian, featured Mendes in an issue that was released on Sunday, in which the 20-year-old musician talked about “selfies, social media overload and posing in his pants.” Days before the story came out, the outlet teased the article with a photo of the “red-hot poster boy of pop,” lying in bed.
Bieber was mentioned in the interview as Mendes reflected on growing up in the limelight and the issues it has caused at times for others like Bieber and Britney Spears.
“A couple of times I’ve worried about that, too, but outside of all this I live a really normal life,” he said. “You have to make an effort to carry your own bags, drive your own car and not be afraid of the public. I don’t blame people at all who stay inside. I understand how it could be terrifying to go to a restaurant and eat because you’re scared someone’s going to take a photo of you.”
Mendes, who recently posed in his underwear for a Calvin Klein campaign, also discussed the toll social media takes on his life on a daily basis.
“The last 48 hours have been so consuming, just reading what people are saying about me [on social media],” he said, prompting the interviewer to question whether he has to read it. “No, but there’s something about being human that makes you. I’m scared of social media and how much it affects me. It’s literally become infused with who I am.”
See more on Mendes below.
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