"I didn't know that I was gonna say what I said on stage. I was just inspired," Sean tells PEOPLE
Credit: Nya Federoff For Mindful Nation
NEED TO KNOW
- PEOPLE spoke exclusively to Big Sean at Live Nation’s Mental Health Awareness Month series for Mindful Nation’s “Music, Mindset & Meaning: A Conversation with Big Sean and Maverick Carter”
- The Grammy nominated artist opened up about his mental health and how he felt inspired during a surprise Coachella appearance with Justin Bieber
- Big Sean’s bestselling book, Go Higher: Five Practices for Purpose, Success, and Inner Peace, is out now
Big Sean is all about spreading positivity.
PEOPLE spoke to the rapper and Go Higher bestselling author, 38, at the Mindful Nation's Mental Health Awareness Month event held at Live Nation’s Beverly Hills headquarters on Wednesday, May 20 where he opened up about uplifting a fellow artist during a surprise Coachella performance late last month.
During the event, which featured a conversation moderated by SpringHill CEO Maverick Carter, the "Mercy" rapper recalled the viral speech he made to Justin Bieber in front of thousands of fans at Coachella Weekend 2.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty for Coachella
"He's somebody who has given his whole life to the music, and has grown up in a public eye and has just gone through the ups and downs and been taking advantage of a lot, I feel like, from a lot of people and by any means not a perfect man and he knows that and he's been learning with us all," Sean, full name Sean Anderson, told PEOPLE of his "As Long as You Love Me" collaborator.
The pair have been friends since 2011, and Sean went viral for praising Bieber’s resilience during their Coachella set, telling him in a heartfelt speech, "God has his hands on you."
"I didn't know that I was gonna say what I said on stage. I was just inspired," Sean told PEOPLE Wednesday.
The "Blessings" artist also shared how his prep for every performance keeps him grounded.
"Before I go on stage, I always pray for God to speak through me," he told PEOPLE. "I wake up, I do a morning meditation, I do a journal. I always try and keep myself open to the word of God or the angels around me, because I'm blind behind the miracles I’ve seen and I know that there's like angels watching over, not just me, over so many of us. So I just went with it."
Credit: Nya Federoff For Mindful Nation
While his words may have moved many, Sean admitted he didn’t actually remember much of it.
"When I got offstage and people were like, ‘What you said was so … ‘ And I'm like, ‘Damn, what did I say?’ I had to go back and listen, but he and his wife were so sweet," the Grammy nominee said of the Canadian superstar and his wife Hailey Bieber, 29.
"They both hit me after. I was kicking with them after, but they hit me days later, like, ‘What you said — we’re still on a high off of it and still appreciated and so great what you said.’ And Justin was like, ‘Man, you drop big bars, you drop some bars, man.’ I'm like, I didn't even really — it wasn't my intention," Sean told PEOPLE of the impromptu moment.
Part of the Mindful Nation event featured a book signing from Sean’s 2025 release, Go Higher: Five Practices for Purpose, Success, and Inner Peace.
Credit: Nya Federoff For Mindful Nation
While there, the "Bounce Back" rapper said outside of journaling, meditation and even watching anime, there’s one thing he doesn’t see himself doing again to find inner peace.
"I don't go skydiving. I did, but it was a little much," he joked. "When I was in the air, I'm like, I don't need to do this again."
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As he gears up for the release of his new album, Sean told PEOPLE he can see writing a second book in his future.
"I'm glad there are some people who are receptive to it," he says of the bestseller, which includes a foreword from Jay Shetty. "It's a passion of mine, it's a purpose of mine."
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