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Image via Iinstagram
The Video Music Awards are unapologetically fake. The musicians know this, the audience knows this, we all know this. But, for all the strings we saw pulling the show in stilted directions, the few real moments of the night were overshadowed by whatever was easiest to encapsulate into a brief 140 characters: Kanye’s running for president! Nicki Minaj is mad! Miley Cyrus likes drugs! Taylor Swift has friends! These were the major takeaways from the always eventful VMAs.
One significant part of the show that wasn’t a major headline generator was Justin Bieber’s first televised performance in a long, long time. It wasn’t important because it was another key moment in what many were dubbing his big comeback; it was important because we finally got to see Bieber as a real human being. The performance was meticulous, sure, but it was also flawed. His vocals faltered as he failed to hit all the notes as he danced and for once, we could hear him struggle.
Ever since his well-publicized legal issues and some questionable antics, many—besides his most loyal Beliebers—were ready to write him off. Bieber seemed genuinely shaken. The media had helped build him into an international pop star, and now they were eager to tear him down. Growing up as a megastar with unrealistic expectations placed upon you can’t be easy, especially for someone as polarizing as Bieber. He’s hardly had a life outside of the public eye.
When the VMAs performance ended, he looked taken aback by the reaction, as if he was surprised to finally hear cheering again. Tears down his face, it seemed like this was the moment he’d been working to create for the last year.
We’ve seen the transformation of Bieber happening before our eyes. In December of 2013, Bieber surprised with a Chance The Rapper collaboration on “Confident.” We had seen Instagram pictures of Bieber hanging with rappers and videos of the young singer trying his hand at freestyling, but the Chance partnership hinted at a musical change of direction. A Pitbull collab probably would have charted a lot higher, but Chance comes with credibility, and it showed that Bieber’s interests were changing.
And then, of course, there was the Comedy Central roast of Justin Bieber in March of 2015. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, and Martha Stewart did their best to embarrass the young singer, who just turned 21 years old earlier that month. It was a cleansing process, a way to put everything on the table once and for all—the mistakes, the missteps, the jokes every parody account on Twitter had been making since Bieber was a teen. That roast was a necessary step in the Bieber transformation process, and his VMAs performance was the logical conclusion.
Now that’s over with, it feels like Bieber finally has a chance at inverted crossover success, like Drake but in reverse. Every moment before this year, which is now arguably the most important year of his career so far, was his NSYNC period. Now he’s finally in his Timberlake period.
For a moment during Kanye’s speech at the VMAs, it felt like Bieber’s face was finally given the words to accompany it: “I just wanted people to like me more.” As both Bieber and Kanye proved that night, a person can only take being labeled as a villain for so long. They both showed it in different ways, with Bieber trying so hard to change the public’s opinion of him through showing, and Kanye through speaking. They both took a certain kind of courage, speaking from the heart at a show that frequently rips artists of any semblance of humanity.
He’s taking risks, shedding the persona of a 12-year-old girl’s dreamboat, and making music for an audience old enough to legally drink.
The only three songs Bieber has been involved with in the past year have been fantastic, and not in spite of him, but because of him. He’s taking risks, shedding the persona of a 12-year-old girl’s dreamboat, and making music for an audience old enough to legally drink. If you were to tell me that the Biebz would hop on a track with Young Thug and Travi$ Scott at the beginning of the year, I wouldn’t have believed you, and I don’t think anyone else would have either.
But here we are in 2015, two of the most polarizing musicians in their respective genres are on a track together, and it’s fucking great. As an adult, Bieber is clearly wanting to make music those the same age as him can enjoy. He’s using his past success and failures to catapult himself into adulthood, learning from his mistakes and turning his flaws into indications of a real human being beyond the celebrity. He’s no longer aiming to please his existing fanbase—some love him regardless; some are growing and changing with him; and some are undoubtedly going to be disappointed with this new Bieber. That’s OK.
“Where Are Ü Now” really brought Bieber back into the spotlight, garnering him his first top 10 single in the US since 2012. More mature and in-tune with current trends than anything he had released up until that point, it caught a lot of people off-guard. “What Do You Mean?” compliments it beautifully, acting as a pseudo-sequel that confidently solidifies his comeback bid. It’s a lot friendlier and warmer, but with Bieber co-producing the track with MdL, it’s a sign that he’s ready to take his music a bit more seriously again.
That leads us to perhaps the most out-there decision of the year: working alongside Travi$ Scott and Young Thug. “Maria I’m Drunk” shouldn’t work with the roster it has, but somehow it’s one of the most interesting songs of the year. Bieber is one of the biggest popstars in the world, and yet he humbly nestles in the middle of the track without breaking the flow at all. In fact, Young Thug handles the hook, which says a lot considering Bieber’s presence. Dark and explicit, this is about as far from “Baby” as you can get.
It’s almost as if he’s making a conscious effort to push himself away from the image that got him to this point. Bieber is sick of looking back at his past, dwelling on his mistakes. He’s still making accessible music, still appealing to the charts and the radio, but he’s also pleasing those that never thought they could like a Bieber joint. “What Do You Mean” isn’t cloying in the same way “Boyfriend” or “Baby” were. There is a lot resting on his upcoming fourth studio-album. It’s rumoured to feature everyone from Yung Gud to Drake, and it was said at one point that Kanye West and Rick Rubin are overseeing the whole project, so who knows how it will turn out. It can’t be said that he’s not trying, though.
After a few years of hinting at it, he seems to finally be making the music he wants to make, and the music that he wants to hear. Bieber is finally ready to accept his own transformation, and I think I am, too.
