Justin Bieber with a snake is SOOOO Britney Spears' 2001 MTV VMA Performance.

Does the above photo of Justin Bieber wearing a giant yellow snake remind you of something? Something as culturally relevant as Britney Spears' EPIC, PERFECT, FEROCIOUS performance of "I'm A Slave 4 U" at the 2001 VMAs? Oh, it does? Well, DUH!! Call it coincidence, but it kind of seems like Justin's channeling one of Brit's fiercest moments just in time for Sunday's 2013 MTV VMAs! And clearly we're interpreting this as some cosmic message from the gods that this year's VMAs will be one of the best shows ever.

WHY IS THIS SO PERFECT?????

Read more about Justin Bieber's snake after the jump.

Justin posted his snake photo to Instagram along with the caption, "Was playing with snakes the other day.. Watching the other guys again !! Will Ferrell is so funny." UMMM, really? No mention of the Brit connection at ALL? FINE, it's totally chill with us if The Biebs is like, "Nahhh, I'm way too cool to talk about the Britney Spears circa 2001 now that I chill with Future and Jay Z."

But if you for one second thought we wouldn't POINT OUT THIS GLARINGLY OBVIOUS CONNECTION FOR HIM, then you're severely mistaken. In fact, we feel it's our civic duty to highlight the snake connection!

Either way, this photo MUST be an omen of good things to come, and we might even take it as a sign from the VMA gods that some wildlife will show up at this Sunday's show! I mean, we have been secretly fantasizing about Katy Perry riding out on an IRL lion for her debut live performance of "Roar." #YouNeverKnow

Photo credit: Justin Bieber's Instagram/GIF: i-beliebinlove