Scooter Braun hung up his hat as a music manager nearly two years ago, though he wasn’t officially retired until around this time last year. And just as his professional title has changed, so have his relationships with his former clients. During a recent appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Braun noted that his relationship with Justin Bieber is “not the same that it was.”
“I think there comes a point where I understand he probably wants to go on and show that he can do it,” Braun said. “We worked together for so long and we had such extreme success. And I think you get to a point as a man where you want to show the world you can do it on your own. And I completely respect that. I think at this point, that’s what he’s doing. Myself and everyone from the old team is rooting for him.”
Representatives for Bieber recently denied reports that the singer is in “alleged financial distress” following his split with Braun, who managed him from the launch of his career more than a decade ago. Though neither party has publicly said anything negative about the other, rumors of a more personal fallout began circulating following their professional split. The singer has also been at the center of recent speculation about his health and well-being following a series of introspective, though scattered, social media posts and tense run-ins with paparazzi.
“People told me my whole life ‘wow Justin u deserve that’ and I personally have always felt unworthy. Like I was a fraud … I definitely feel unequipped and unqualified most days,” he wrote in one post. And when he was cornered by paparazzi while grabbing coffee, he confronted them. “Get outta here, bro. Money, that’s all you want. You don’t care about human beings,” Bieber said. “That’s all you care about, guys. Money. You don’t care about people.”
During the podcast, Braun recalled his first encounter with the pop star, describing him as charismatic and soulful. “He was a very special, special talent and a very unique individual,” he said. When they met, Braun was 25 and Bieber was 13. “I created this character, Scooter, because I didn’t think Scott could achieve these things. That mask made me absolutely relentless, faking it till I make it,” he said. “Like, I had no right convincing Justin and his mom to be on the first plane they had ever been and meet me. [They were betting on] my ignorance.”
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Braun’s former roster also included Ariana Grande, Tori Kelly, and more, though he declined to name the artist he worked with, whose decision to part ways largely influenced his decision to retire, citing legal reasons. Still, he said, he only wants to see them succeed. “I’ve heard managers, which I never understood, they’d be like, deep down behind closed doors, they don’t want to see them do as well without them,” Braun said. “It’s almost like them succeeding is tarnishing your legacy. Every artist I worked with, I believed in them because they were great, I think that’s the best testimony to that belief.”
He added: “To see Justin move forward and succeed, to see Ariana with what’s happened with Wicked in this past year, to see Tori Kelly — to see everybody that I’ve ever had a chance to work with, to see them go on and do great things on their own, it’s awesome.”
