Justin Bieber Visits A Museum Dedicated To Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber returned to his hometown of Stratford, Ontario for perhaps the most meta experience of all time: visiting the Stratford Perth Museum exhibit dedicated to his own rise to fame.

The singer visited the exhibit with his grandparents on Friday who, according to the Canadian Press, are frequent visitors and provided some of the items on display. Most grandparents proudly display photos of their grandchildren and keep things from their childhood, but this is next level grandparenting. While there, Bieber took photos with staff and signed some of the display pieces.

The exhibit, Steps to Stardom, opened on February 18 and contains hundreds pieces of memorabilia and childhood mementos from Bieber himself, his family, and fans, including his Grammy and platinum record for his debut album, My World 2.0, which came out eight years ago.

The museum’s general manager, John Kastner, relayed some of Bieber’s reactions and comments to the exhibit. “He talked about what a great exhibit it was, how it spanned his life, how it was emotional for him,” Kastner told the Stratford Beacon Herald. “He said a couple of times, ‘Looking at this stuff gives me goosebumps. I never thought there would be a museum exhibit about me.’” It’s rare — pretty much unheard of — for a pop star to get a museum exhibit dedicated to them after roughly a decade in the industry. His fame seemed so instantaneous that by the time my friends and I were hearing about him, he was already selling out arenas and touring the world.

Bieber notably got his start busking on the steps of Stratford’s Avon Theatre while also posting videos on YouTube. “The idea of it is to cover that period of his life,” shared Kastner. According to Billboard, the exhibit will run through the end of the year, though there is already talk of extending its stay.

The title of the exhibit is a reference to those early years. “The steps of the Avon Theatre was probably the turning point [in his life], but for many people around here, they knew he was talented before that,” Kastner added.

Bieber rose to stardom at such a meteoric rate, and at such a young age, that it’s easy to forget that he started out as a kid in Canada just wanting to perform for people.