I thank this article for teaching me a little something about Justin Bieber. Before reading it, I’d seen the boy’s name maybe once or twice on the ‘Net, and gave it no more thought. And now I know all I need to know about this rising Canadian pop star. This is good, because now I can safely dismiss him from my life.
It’s not that the guy isn’t talented; he sings well enough in the style of pop music as it exists these days. It isn’t that I’m pining for the good old days when music meant something, and we had to listen to tunes on a Cray supercomputer strapped to our backs, and we liked it that way. It isn’t even that I don’t care about young people’s culture — I have a six year old boy, and I’m really curious about what he likes and doesn’t like.
Really, it’s more that I can’t bring myself to follow the career of some lucky kid who was discovered on YouTube. His story doesn’t interest me in the least. He hasn’t exactly triumphed against all odds, or persevered in the face of mounting misfortunes, or overcome a crippling illness to reach the point at which he’s arrived. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Out of the thousands, maybe millions of amateur talent out there in the world who have their own YouTube videos, for some reason his got lucky. And now he’s going to make more money than he’s ever seen in one place, receive the adoration of millions of young girls and boys, and if he’s lucky, will use these experiences to achieve humility and benefit the needy. Call me cynical, but that has, historically, proven to be a longshot. But good luck to you, Justin Bieber. When I see you on the cover of People magazine, I’ll wave atcha and think I knew him when.
