When Justin Bieber’s new album, Purpose, dropped, I was shocked by how many of my friends were posting on social media about it. But my friends defy gender roles and stereotypes because they’re not boring white-bread people, so I figured it was just a typical “let’s defy conventions” type of thing.
That all changed when I heard “Sorry” for the first time. I was blown away. The hook was absurd. It was spicy, it was fun to listen to and it was a song that made me want to listen to it again.
My jaw nearly hit the floor when I found out this was the new J-Beebz hit.
Unfortunately, Bieber is a noted asshole. I was hoping it was something that comes with being a teenager who is constantly in the public spotlight, but it seems to have carried over into his adult life.
So when I say, “I like Justin Bieber,” I don’t mean that he’s somebody I would want to spend even a minute of my life around. I mean that he (or at least the ghost writers making these tracks) makes incredible pop songs that I genuinely enjoy.
After I got out of my early teenage “I’m edgy because I like metal” phase, I didn’t care that people liked Bieber. I thought his music was entry-level pop nonsense marketed for children and that he was an absolute asshole of a person, but I wasn’t bothered that he had fans.
But today my ears thank a higher power that somebody at Universal was able to market his puberty instead of letting him fade into obscurity the same way most teen boy pop stars do.
Simply put, the songs off of “Purpose” are going to be the gems of our mid-decade pop. “Sorry” is one of the best uses of a trumpet of all time, “What Do You Mean?” has excellent instrumentals and some great vocals and, while it teeters dangerously close to what I call ‘ass rock,’ “Love Yourself” has an excellent hook and a catchy melody.
I like Bieber and I don’t give a shit. If you do too, you shouldn’t either. I’m a big advocate that the term “guilty pleasure” is a waste and perpetrates the myth that there is such a thing as perfect taste.
I don’t care if there’s somebody who thinks I’m not masculine enough for wanting to jam “Sorry” every moment of my life. I don’t care if there’s a kid, like every other teenage boy, who is super mad that Bieber is famous for just being himself. I don’t care if there’s a dad who is too traditional to understand that I’m blown away by a really good pop song.
Luckily, if Twitter is any indication, there’s a large number of people that agree with me. This piece isn’t for them. This is for the people that can’t see Bieber in his new and handsome form. It’s for the people that heard “Baby” once and immediately branded the Canadian transplant as the biggest threat to American culture since Nickelback (that’s what I meant when I was saying ‘ass rock’ before).
The point is that whether you admit or not, the new Bieber tracks are pretty damn catchy, and even if, for some reason, you irrationally hate Bieber to your core, there’s no way you can’t at least bob your head to his new tracks.
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