Disclosure: My mother will kill me when she reads this article. She is not a Justin Bieber convert, and never will be.
I have a tendency to be a crazed fangirl; it’s just in my personality. I get very obsessive over things that catch my interest and that I find fascinating and cool. I’ve had my Jonas Brothers stage, Twilight stage, Glee stage and my late Romanov Dynasty stage (I was a well-read fourth grader). But one obsession that never quite hit me was Justin Bieber.
I remember the very first time he came onto the music scene. I was in 8th grade and “Baby” was the “it” song on the radio. Every single girl in my class, all of my friends and some teachers had Bieber Fever.
But I was immune. By choice, or maybe just by natural revulsion, I did not find Bieber attractive. I didn’t like his childish lyrics or his poppy beats. Every time I heard his music or his name I immediately recoiled from the subject. But friendships were strained, tensions were high and I had to learn how to curb my disinterest.
I just found him to be a silly subject, and I hoped he would fade into oblivion because I could not handle every movie night turning into a Bieber scream fest.
My first foray into Bieber’s music was when “Next to You” was released. It was almost a year after his first “hit” and he was collaborating with Chris Brown. My first thought was “What better way to make a ‘hit’ than putting this midget with a woman-hater?” FYI, I hate Chris Brown ten times more than I ever disliked Justin Bieber.
But then my friend Jennie played it for me, and I was in awe. He could actually sing and make good music? Not only did that baffle me, but so did the intensity of the lyrics. “You’ve got that smile/That only heaven can make/I pray to God every day/That you keep that smile” Like, yes! Those are lyrics I could get down to. But then I was confused; how could I feel this way about an artist I didn’t like as a person? Safe to say, I had no answer and my blooming interest in The Biebs soon faded.
But of course, fate had me befriend the biggest Justin Bieber fan I had ever encountered. Dana, who eventually became my best friend, was beyond obsessed. She had posters, calendars, notebooks and a life-size cardboard cutout (which made it all the easier to make fun of him and scare her). She went to his concerts and would go on and on about how she hated Selena Gomez. She’s lucky that I loved her or I probably would have severely maimed her.
Justin did eventually fade, if only for a little bit. I heard of him less and less in the media. And, even though Dana moved away, I could tell when her love was fading as well for the mini pop-prince. First there were the pregnancy rumors, then he and Selena broke up. There were just back-to-back scandals. He even peed in a bucket. He was turning into a hard-core thug.
There were a few songs that I started to like of his, right before this fall from grace. But then, to me, all of this just proved who I thought he was this whole time: a loser.
But then, the craziest thing happened. I started to like his music.
He collaborated on “Lolly,” and I could feel myself changing my mind. Crazy that that seedy song is what wedged an opening in my heart, but it did. And then he released his Journals CD and “Confident” became my song. But if you had asked me if I was a Justin Bieber fan, I would have laughed in your face, snorted and then walked off, saying some smartass remark.
And then he disappeared for a bit. By the time he came back with Jack Ü, I was way into the EDM scene, and Diplo and Skrillex were staples on my phone. And maybe I was tricked into liking Justin Bieber, because I didn’t realize he was on the “Where are Ü Now” track at first, which gave me too much time to like it. But alas, it happened and my dislike turned into indifference.
Now, maybe The Biebs just knows who to work with, maybe he just knows who to collab with or maybe he’s growing musically. Either way, no one was prepared for Purpose. Especially not me.
I didn’t like “What Do You Mean?”, so naturally I thought this album was going to be released under my radar yet again. But then I heard “Sorry” and “The Feeling” (Halsey rocks my world) and I started to really, really dig Justin. I caught myself constantly listening to “Sorry,” watching that awesome video over and over and then listening to the whole CD.
Over Christmas break, I had memorized more than half the songs on Purpose just because I listened to it so much. I started watching interviews. I died when Justin started singing “Ironic” by Alanis Morisette on James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke. I started to like him more and more.
My like turned into love. Not obsessive, fangirl love. But a musical love for his album, his songs and, kinda/maybe him. He’s not that bad and kind of funny. In certain situations.
I feel at times like I have betrayed my younger self. Dana even shook her head and laughed when she heard I was writing this article. But people do change, and musical tastes definitely do too. Why deny something that is so obviously happening?
So, Justin, you won this round. I will gladly go listen to my “The Collapse into Conformity” playlist, consisting of all Bieber. And keep churning out that bomb music and you might just have a long-term Belieber right here.
Sorry Mom.