Venerdì 13 esce Purpose di Justin Bieber, pubblichiamo un articolo uscito ben 3 anni fa sull’ormai morto MTHRFNKR e che prevedeva bene o male la parabola evolutiva del ragazzo di Stratford.
Justin Bieber is 18 years old. When Justin Timberlake was 18, he was a member of *NSYNC and nothing more than a bubblegum pop star who sang songs with little substance. Much like Bieber, he was tailored to whatever image would make tween girls fall in love with him.
Today, however, Timberlake is a shell of his former self. Or should I say he was a shell of his future self? Uhhh….Anyway, after showing his humorous side with The Lonely Island, he scored a big role in the blockbuster film The Social Network, and is now starring in an upcoming film with Clint Eastwood of all people. You’d be hard-pressed to find a person who is unaware of Timberlake’s Disney roots, but he’s done a surprisingly good job in making them irrelevant. After releasing FutureSex/LoveSounds in 2006, a landmark electro-R&B album, he has been on an indefinite hiatus from music to pursue his acting career.
With the release of Bieber’s new single, it’s clear his sound has progressed, and his voice has as well (must be a late bloomer). “Boyfriend” sounds somewhat akin to something off of Futuresex, mixed with light rapping and some (hopefully) ironically bad lyrics (chillin’ by the fire while we eatin’ fondue/I dunno about me but I know about you).
While this song is still a long way from being captivating to any intelligent listener for more than a few seconds, it’s interesting to think about where Bieber might be 10 years from now. He certainly has a lot of interesting mentors, so I think being cautiously optimistic about Bieber turning into the next Timberlake is an interesting angle from which to look at the young pop star.
This transformation could happen sooner than you think. Reports of people who have listened to Bieber’s new album in advance have said it features some “unexpected” things. Bieber whispers “swag” into your ear numerous times during “Boyfriend”. It would certainly be interesting if one of the original purveyors of swag, Lil B, was featured on the album.
This may not be as farfetched as it sounds. When B spoke at NYU last week, he mentioned this: ”Real talk, you guys are about to freak out because I got a song with one of the biggest artists on Earth coming.” Sure, it’s a long shot. But, if this long shot does in fact come to fruition, do remember where you heard it first. Who knows, maybe Bieber will even star in the 2022 Academy award-winning drama about Twitter, I Know Why The Caged Bird Tweets. Swaggie.
