Justin Bieber: Where Are You Now?

It's only fitting that Bieber's first release after a year of musical silence is titled "Where Are You Now". Once you get past the motif and hi-hat sounds his feature on Skrillex and Jack Ü's song reveals the changes in his voice since his last LP 'Journals'. 

So as Bieber is asking his past lover where they are now, I think its fitting that we ask where he is now.

Is he still that young boy urinating in buckets?
Will he egg his neighbour's house and cause $40,000 in damage again?
As an artist will he ever don those wings adorned with musical instruments from the Believe tour ever again?
These are important questions but what is more important is that we see Bieber as a person. Yes, he's done many many questionable things in the past. His behaviour has been less than admirable but you cannot deny, he makes good music.

Let me take on an unpopular opinion here.

I'm excited for the resurgence of the Biebs. 

Now before you all shake your head and write me off as a crazed tween who blindly idolises the latest singer marketed to them, hear (or read) me out.

Justin Bieber was thrown into the public light at 13. He had the likes of Usher and Justin Timberlake vying to sign him. Imagine how that would've felt as a 13 year old. His first single 'Baby' which features the most interesting chorus of 2010 propelled him onto the world stage. He was made fun of for his 'girly' voice. A 16 year old boy was made fun of worldwide because he had not gone through all the stages of puberty, something that he could not control. I'd argue that his treatment by the wider public in this period of his life contributed to his actions in his later teenage years.

He pumped out an album every year from 2010 to 2013, writing most of the songs on those albums whilst touring simultaneously. That is a lot of work for a teenager who has to juggle everything else life throws at him at this age. Public opinion of him had never been 100% since his breakthrough, a fact which I think is largely due to his fanbase (but that is a post for another time), he had become the punchline to jokes.

So under all of this immense pressure, doesn't it make sense that a person would crack? This coupled with the usual teenage 'rebellious' phase, made for a Bieber the media loved to make fun of. His actions, which are inexcusable, became entertainment for the public. The media has conditioned the public to be entertained by a 'child star gone bad', everyone always watches with bated breath to see when they will mess up and once they mess up they keep watching for more mistakes.

You must need to be so mentally tough to survive that level of public scrutiny. I applaud his decision to take a year out from the spotlight. Whether he was successful at staying out of the spotlight (re: Leonardo and Orlando fiasco) is another question. But following his appearance on Ellen this year where he seemed genuinely apologetic for his mistakes, Bieber looks to have refocused his energies and has grown up. As a pressured and scrutinised teenager he was able to make great music (Beauty and The Beat was great okay) and sell his music. So who's to tell what type of music and quality he can make as a recuperated and level headed adult? If 'Where Are You Now' is any indication of the direction he's going in, Bieber's adolescent drama will be a blip in his career.