I’ll be the first to say I’m sick of 3-D concert experiences. They tend to irritate my gag reflex. In the tradition of Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers, the newest pop singer turned 3-D movie star is Justin Bieber. Though his film “Never Say Never” lacked the camp and overtly-staged air of the aforementioned.
To address the 120-pound pop star in the room, I understand that it’s easy to bash the Biebs. He’s scrawny and looks like a pre-pubescent girl with the vocal chords to match. Though, I’ll have to admit, cherubic voices like Bieber’s make my heart melt into a puddle. It’s easy for most to discredit the kid; he’s too young, too commercial and too freaking sweet for most people to handle.
When I ignore the fact that “Baby” never gets out of my head or that “One Time“ can become a pretty kick-ass acoustic cover when set with the right melodic accompaniment, I’ll be clear that I don’t own more than two Bieber songs. As a non-fan I found the film bearable, which must say something. Those in attendance who found Justin to be an irresistible little music man were weeping with joy by the credits.
I guess the film didn’t have all that bad of a concept. Rather than just showing Justin smiling to his adoring fans and dancing like a little Michael Jackson at Madison Square Garden with the spawn of Will Smith, the film chronicled the kid’s actual journey from being a normal kid in Canada to one of the names most searched on YouTube. Not to mention that Smith kid’s line “no pun intended, I was raised on the power of Will” gets me every single time.
It is a heartwarming story; a scrappy young kid brands himself via YouTube, writes heartfelt songs (albeit naïve ones) about first love and launches himself to teen pop stardom. It’s a rehashing of the classic rags-to-riches tale and it really isn’t all that much of an abomination. He’s an Internet renaissance man (boy?) who built his empire through the social networking that’s come to define our generation.
Maybe he’s a sellout, or a pop automaton signalling the oncoming apocalypse, but with his hoards of adoring fans, piles of money and unbridled love of what he is doing, it can’t be all that bad to be the Biebs.
