OK- admit it, we ALL know about the
one and only Justin Bieber. Even if some
of us wished we didn’t. We’ve watched
him rise to fame from a young YouTube sensation to a Grammy-winning 22 year old
pop star. The artist who brought us “One
Time” from his first album My World in 2009 has grown into a “bad boy turned good” musician. This year Justin Bieber topped the charts
with his most recent album Purpose, which
included hits like “Sorry” and “What Do You Mean.”
Like I said
before, almost everyone knows the story of how Justin Bieber rose to
stardom. By making YouTube videos of
himself singing he was able to get a large following. “Eventually, I got found by my manager who
flew me to Atlanta to meet Usher” Bieber says.
There was a bidding war but Usher finally won and had him signed to
Island Def Jam Recordings” (Adib).
Between the years 2009 and 2014 Justin Bieber released five albums, one
of them being a (shamelessly catchy) Christmas album.
Inevitably,
Bieber fell down a slippery slope. This
was the beginning of what looked like the end, “the past few years have been
rocky for the pop star, who was caught doing everything from underage drinking
and drag racing to egging his neighbor’s house and peeing in a restaurant mop
bucket. He also abandoned a monkey in
Germany” (Blistein). Also, we can’t forget
about his breakup with Selena Gomez, not to add salt to the wound but…
For the
rest of 2015 and straight into 2016 Bieber made it known he was ready for a
change. According to US Weekly Justin was quoted in March
saying, “I was just talking about it being a new chapter for me and basically
saying that I'm sorry for the stuff that I’ve done. A lot of times we pretend so that we can fit
in and we end up looking like the douchebag and that was kind of me" (Boardman). Back in April he said, “I hope people felt
the sincerity in my apologies…there are a lot of things that have happened in
the last couple years that I’m not very proud of, and I feel a responsibility
to my fans and to the public who believe in me to make it right” (Aiello). He topped off his parade of heartfelt
apologies with an emotional breakdown at his 2015 MTV Video Music Awards
performance. The link below shows his interview
with Jimmy Fallon. Bieber explains why
he cried after his performance.
Back on the
rise, Justin Bieber released his latest album Purpose on November 13th of this year after a huge
Social Media campaign. As said by Billboard, “he earned 649,000
equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 19, according to Nielsen
Music. That’s the largest weekly unit
total for an album since the Billboard 200 began tracking popularity based on
overall equivalent units earned in December of 2014. (It beats the debut week of Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too late,
which launched with 535,000 units)” (Caulfield). According to Variety, starting March 9th
Bieber hit the road for his Purpose Tour.
“The 58-date tour will include stops all over North America, including
Denver, Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Boston, Miami and throughout
eastern and western Canada. There will
be two-night runs in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto along with a
tour-ending performance at Madison Square Garden on July 18” (Bryant).
On Tuesday,
March 22nd, just 13 days into his tour, Justin decided to cancel all
of his meet and greets. In a long
Instagram post he said, “I enjoy meeting such incredible people but I end up
feeling so drained and filled with so much of other people’s spiritual energy
that I end up so drained and unhappy.” Yes,
you read that right. He doesn’t want to
see his fans anymore because their
energy is wearing him down. Believe me,
I’m just as rattled as you are.
So where
does it end? This emotional
rollercoaster called Justin Bieber is nothing but constant ups and downs. Personally, I think it has to do with the
fact that he was put into the limelight at such a young age. In almost every
industry there seems to be a common trend in child stardom that unfortunately
doesn’t end well. In order to fix the
problem at hand, industry professionals would be tiptoeing across the lines of
parent vs. manager. If Justin lived in a
Kardashian world he could have a “Mom-ager” but we all know how well that turns
out... There are plenty of good examples of “child stars gone wrong” but will
Justin’s ups and downs stay a trend or will he fall down and eventually stay
down?
Works Cited
Aiello,
Mckenna. "How Justin Bieber Turned His Bad-Boy Reputation Around In Time
For His 22nd Birthday." Www.Eonline.com. E! News, 1 Mar. 2016.
Web. 2 Apr. 2016.
Blistein,
Jon. "Justin Bieber Apologizes: 'I'm Not Who I Was Pretending to
Be'" Rolling Stone. N.p., 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.
Boardman,
Madeline. "Watch: Justin Bieber Talks Scathing Roast, Cozies Up to
Madonna." Us Weekly. N.p., 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.
Bryant,
Jacob. "Justin Bieber Announces ‘Purpose’ World Tour." Variety.
N.p., 11 Nov. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.
Caulfield,
Keith. "Justin Bieber Scores Sixth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With
'Purpose'" Billboard. N.p., 22 Nov. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.
Robinson,
Will. "Justin Bieber Cancels Purpose Tour Meet-and-greets." Entertainment
Weekly's EW.com. N.p., 22 Mar. 2016. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.
Link
to YouTube video:
Links:
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/22/justin-bieber-purpose-world-tour-meet-and-greets
http://variety.com/2015/music/news/justin-bieber-world-tour-purpose-concert-dates-1201638510/
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6770300/justin-bieber-scores-sixth-no-1-album-on-billboard-200-charts-purpose
Where do I begin with Justin Bieber? His ups and downs have certainly had us all on a rollercoaster journey and we never really know what he’s going to do next. I remember first hearing about him when his hit song “One Time” debuted on the radio back home in Canada. Now, what some people may not know is that Justin Bieber is actually Canadian. He’s from a small town just outside Toronto so when I learned that he was from Canada and was having a lot of success with his first album, I was really excited. I get excited for all Canadian musical artists or actors when they are successful so I took pride in the fact that Justin Bieber was from my home country.
ReplyDeleteBut then, like Rachel mentioned, he started to fall. Bieber was all over every media outlet, in Canada and the U.S., for the things he was doing wrong. It definitely seemed like he hit that downward spiral that a lot of young child stars seemed to take. His year-and-a-half-long spiral included “a DUI arrest, vandalism allegations, and an open-ended breakup with Selena Gomez” (Aiello). I do believe that his rise to fame is what sent him down into a tailspin of bad decisions. His stardom and popularity rose so quickly that I don’t think he really understood how to handle it and he was in no way mature enough to handle everything that was coming his way. I remember in the prime of his downfall, the Vancouver Winter Olympics were in full swing. On the day of the men’s hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States, memes on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were being shared stating that whichever country lost the game would have to keep Justin Bieber. It seemed like no country wanted to claim him. Canada ended up winning the game so, I’m sorry guys, but you have to keep for now.
But then, he started to rise again. I think he began to realize all the things he did wrong and decided to get out of the hole he had dug for himself. This past fall when he released his new album, I was hesitant to listen to it because at that point, I had no more respect left for Bieber. However, once the songs on the radio started to get stuck in my head, I gave the album a try and I actually enjoyed it. I have to give him credit for trying to turn things around because that is no easy task. He still has his Madonna-moments like when he cancelled all his meet and greets or his naked posts on Instagram but we can’t expect him to be perfect right away. And he did tell everyone he was sorry for his actions. His big apology came while he was on Ellen and he made it seem like he truly wants to get better. He said, “And although what’s happened in the past has happened, I just want to make the best impression on people be kind and loving and gentle and soft” (Blistein). We’ll see if he continues to take us on this rollercoaster ride.
Works Cited:
Aiello, Mckenna. "How Justin Bieber Turned His Bad-Boy Reputation Around In Time For His
22nd Birthday." Www.Eonline.com. E! News, 1 Mar. 2016. Web. 2 Apr. 2016.
Blistein, Jon. "Justin Bieber Apologizes: 'I'm Not Who I Was Pretending to Be'" Rolling Stone.
N.p., 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.
Oh, how I love to hate and to love Bieber. You bring up a lot of great points and back them up well with our readings. I think you bring up an interesting point about child stardom and the correlation with disaster. How can we expect anyone to grow up with a sense of “normalcy” when by the time they hit puberty they are already a millionaire. The media loves to watch the rise of an under-dog having it all, but ultimately they love to watch them lose it all even more.
ReplyDeleteWhile Bieber is the butt of endless jokes, it’s important to realize he is talented and has the sales to back it up. His rise to fame was also untraditional with Bieber being the first to prove that social media has an incredible power. Never before had we seen a child star come up to such fame and success without the machine power of Disney or Nickelodeon behind them. He smashed records and became an international sensation very literally overnight. Even with his tragic fall of mishaps including a DUI arrest, an orphaned monkey, and a well-documented breakup Bieber still managed to have a massive comeback. “First of all, to leave Justin’s name off the list of 2015 musical triumphs would be a mistake. ‘Where Are Ü Now’ was one of summer’s biggest jams, laying the groundwork for the historic straight-to-No.1 debut of ‘What Do You Mean?’ and a subsequently critically acclaimed album” (Aiello). Clearly he has something. Bieber even used social media to spread the news of his apology tour when he released a Facebook video stating “…he no longer wanted to be the kind of person who doesn't care about anything or anyone” (Blistein). The smartest career and marketing move he ever made was his Comedy Roast Special where everything that was awful could be said about him was laid out for the public. He owned up to it and I respected that. That’s when started to love him again.
While his talent is undeniable I believe Bieber lacks the emotional maturity to handle his success. Just on this past tour he has been crying in the middle of performances, laying down stating how he is exhausted, and even famously cancelled his entire meet and greets for the rest of his tour dates. Throughout all of this I can’t decide if he needs a parent to step in and give him a hug or if he needs someone to give him some tough love. He has made enough money where he can peacefully go and retire for the rest of his life but there’s no denying the pressures that come with having the whole world watching you and waiting for you to fail. I hope he proves everyone wrong. After going through my own emotional roller coaster of loving and hating and then loving Bieber again, I have to say I am rooting for him. Anyone with that success clearly has worked hard to get there. I think he realizes he’s made some mistakes and genuinely wants to change. I just hope he follows through.
Works Cited
Aiello, McKenna. “How Justin Bieber Turned His Bad-Boy Reputation Around.” E! News. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
Blistein, Jon. “Justin Bieber Apologizes: ‘I’m Not Who I Was Pretending to Be.’”Rolling Stone. Web. 29 Jan. 2015
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was twelve years old and my friends showed me Youtube videos of a cute boy singing and playing guitar. This cute boy, at the time, was Justin Bieber. The Justin Bieber obsession was crazy in middle school. I personally was not part of this obsession trend. However, fast-forward to nine years later, and I can’t believe how much of a focus he’s become in the media. His unappreciated and reckless behavior was the highlight of his reputation for a while. However, now the media focuses on Justin’s effort to turn his unfavorable reputation around. He’s done countless interviews describing the lessons he has learned from his negative experiences (Aiello, 2016). He made an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show to confess that he isn’t the person who he was pretending to be (Blistein, 2015). However, he has had two public meltdowns since the start of his journey of improvement. Honestly, this is expected because transformations don’t happen over night.
For me, I don’t like to listen to celebrity news or drama. So with Justin, I focus more on his music and dancing. I do like his new album and some of his dance moves are awesome. It’s evident that his music talent has taken a turn with his album release “Purpose”. His song “Where Are U Now” was the summer hit and then it followed with “What Do You Mean?” which both are critically acclaimed (Aiello, 2016). I will be honest; I am a fan of his new album, especially the other songs, “Love Yourself” and “Sorry”.
In terms of whether Justin will fall again or mess up his reputation, I am not sure. He is only twenty-two years old and at this age, life is so uncertain. Although, he may desire to keep a good record, there’s a high chance this will not happen. Regardless whether you’re a celebrity or not, people evolve throughout the course of their life. As a result, desires and needs change too. So Justin may be saying that he wants to change his lifestyle, but it will probably take a long while. The fact that he’s constantly in the spotlight, there’s an immense amount of pressure present for him. Since he made a public statement and effort of his goal to change, it’s more apparent that people are waiting to see when he will mess up again. I guess this is the price of fame. Regardless, I wish him good luck on his journey.
Aiello, M. (2016, Mar 1). How Justin Bieber Turned His Bad-Boy Reputation Around In Time for 22nd Birthday. E-News. Retrieved from http://www.eonline.com/news/744551/how-justin-bieber-turned-his-bad-boy-reputation-around-in-time-for-his-22nd-birthday?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-celebritynews&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_celebritynews
Blistein, J. (2015, Jan. 29). Justin Bieber Apologies: ‘I’m Not Who I Was Pretending to be.” Rolling Stone. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/justin-bieber-apologizes-im-not-who-i-was-pretending-to-be-20150129#ixzz3VEtIQ27f
Michael Corigliano
ReplyDeleteJustin Bieber is one of the most interesting celebrities to discuss. The way he became famous, the way he was branded, etc.- it all was during a time where no one realized being a YouTube sensation could turn you into a global icon. Although, with all the fame and limelight comes temptations that can lead to possible downfalls. That is one aspect of being famous that Justin knows very well as he has made his fair share of mistakes in front of the camera.
One thing that a lot of people will agree on is that his music and vocal talent are amazing and deserve the attention they have received. People have the biggest problems with the way he acts when he’s not relaying his songs on stage, for the most part. There have even been mistakes made on stage where he ended up canceling a show entirely after getting upset with fans in front of the stage. Justin’s comments on the outburst were, “I don’t always handle things the right way but I’m human and I’m working on getting better at responding not reacting” (Aiello). He clearly has trouble being in the spotlight at times, but the real question is whether we should judge him for that? Me personally, I believe that his music is great and I do not really mind what he does off the stage because he’s his own person. The reason I feel like that is because I am not a diehard Justin Bieber fan (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like “Sorry”), but those young girls and boys that are, it is a bit concerning. People can argue that Justin’s job is not to be a role model, but morally speaking it is just the right thing to do. Not too many people in the world have that type of platform to get their word out. Justin should use that to his own, but more importantly his closest fans advantage.
To answer your last question, I believe that Justin will still continue to make award-winning music, but his sudden outbursts seem like they will continue for a while. We all have to remember that he is also only twenty-two years old; this could just be part of his maturing process. “I just want to be able to laugh about it, and just kind of own up to some of these things” (Blistein). The day in age we live in makes it even more difficult on young celebrities with the transformation of traditional media and not to mention the rise of social media. Only time will tell whether Justin will overcome his past mistakes and show the world that he can handle being in the spotlight.
Work Cited:
Aiello, Mckenna. "How Justin Bieber Turned His Bad-Boy Reputation Around In Time For His 22nd Birthday." Www.Eonline.com. E! News, 1 Mar. 2016. Web. 2 Apr. 2016.
Blistein, Jon, "Justin Bieber Apologizes: 'I'm Not Who I Was Pretending to Be.'" Rolling Stone. 29 Jan. 2015. Web.
The Biebs is definitely an interesting character. I remember first hearing him on the radio in middle school and thinking he was a girl. However, with age his music has evolved and his success cannot be dismissed. With that being said, I am definitely a Justin Bieber fan for not only his new music, but for his very public and open apology for his actions.
ReplyDeleteI believe in second chances. I also believe that the limelight can do some very detrimental things to a developing young person. As Rachel mentions in her post, child stars usually don’t end up being very emotionally stable people. I assume this comes from having to grow up in front of the entire world. As a young man at the same age as Justin Bieber, I can certainly try and imagine what his life must be like at this point. If I were the biggest superstar in the world before I turned 17, I would definitely not be the same person I am today. Regardless of cockiness, that is a ton of pressure to put on anybody, let alone a teenager. As Bieber said in his interview on the Ellen show, “just being young and growing up in this business is hard. Just growing up in general is hard" (Blistein).
With that being said, I have nothing but respect for the way he has handled himself since his public apologies. It takes a lot of guts to admit wrongdoing, and it takes even more to do it in front of the entire world. At the end of the day, he is still a young man trying to figure out who he wants to be; it’s just an entirely different story due to his level of fame.
Another big reason why I think his public reform has been so successful is due to his public relations team. I’m sure they, along with the rest of the people he holds close in his life, had a big influence on choices he has made regarding talk shows and performances. As mentioned in an article from E!News, “practically every interview he has sat down for in recent months is packed with mentions of the lessons he's learned” (Aiello). His team knows where and when to put him in front of the public to allow his image to improve. As much as I believe in what he is saying, it is important to acknowledge the people behind the scenes helping him regain a likeable public image.
All in all, I really hope Bieber continues to go down the right path and understand what a fantastic gift he has in this second chance. I think if he continues to focus on his music and career, he will have a very long, successful career.
References:
Aiello, McKenna. "How Justin Bieber Turned It All Around Before His 22nd Birthday." E! Online. N.p., 1 Mar. 2016. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
Blistein, Jon, "Justin Bieber Apologizes: 'I'm Not Who I Was Pretending to Be.'" Rolling Stone. 29 Jan. 2015. Web.
Entertainment media companies (TMZ, E News, etc.), to many people, are an amazing thing; they feed people their daily fix on what’s going on within celebrity culture. In my eyes, the entertainment world, and the coverage of it, is detrimental. Entertainment news completely takes away the privacy from branded celebrities; paparazzi follow their every move, stirring up rumors to bolster viewership and create social buzz. Entertainment news outlets build celebrities up and then tare them down. Justin Bieber, one of the most famous celebrities known today, is a prime example of what the entertainment world can do to someone.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Justin Bieber first got discovered by Usher through YouTube. Before we knew it, he became a global phenomenon. At the age of 12, Bieber became one of the world’s biggest celebrities. But this rapid rise to fame did not come without drawbacks. According to a Rolling Stones interview, Bieber felt, “there was really no preparing me for this life. I was thrown into this at 12 years old and didn’t really know what I was getting into. There have been moments I’m really proud of and moments I’m pretty disappointed in myself for” (Spanos). It was only a matter of time before the entertainment world got the best of Bieber. By the time Bieber became 17, he was egging his neighbors houses, receiving speeding tickets, trying to get into bars (and strip clubs), spitting on people, and urinating in mop buckets in restaurants—a petition even surfaced calling for Bieber to be removed from the country.
Although all of this is undoubtedly wrong, ask yourself: if you were thrown into international stardom at such a young age, how would you act? I know for sure that if I were in his shoes, I would have most certainly gone down the wrong path at a certain point; I wouldn’t have been able to handle the fame, the social buzz, the paparazzi, and the privacy taken from me.
I certainly believe in second chances, sometimes even thirds. I have nothing but respect for Bieber for how he has held himself accountable for his actions and how he is doing the best he can to change in order to be the person he once was for his fans. What many people seem to forget is that Bieber was not only an extremely talented musician, but a role model to millions of people—my little sister included. When times got rough in my family, my younger sister turned to Bieber to seek help and guidance. She used him as a means to escape and get away from the issues at hand. She attended many of his concerts, and she even got to do a meet and greet with him numerous times. Bieber even gave her free concert tickets after an in-depth, emotional email she sent him. He did a lot for Olivia, and I respect him as a man for what he does for his fans—like Olivia—despite his wrongdoings.
I would love to see those who speak poorly of him be thrown into a life he was thrown into at such a young age and try to remain an angel to his fans and society. The entertainment world has a habit of making good people do bad things. According to Bieber, we "[O]ften we pretend to be something we’re not as a cover up of what we’re truly feeling inside… And there was a lot of feelings going on in there. Just being young and growing up in this business is hard. Just growing up in general is hard" (Blistein).
Works Cited:
Blistein, Jon. "Justin Bieber Apologizes: 'I'm Not Who I Was Pretending to Be.'" Rolling Stones. 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 4 April 2016.
Spanos, Brittany. “All Apologies: 22 Times Justin Bieber Said ‘Sorry’.” Rolling Stones. 10 Nov. 2015. Web. 4 April 2015