Before this week, I had never listened to Justin Bieber. Of course, I had heard his biggest hits in passing — “One Time” and “Baby” were unavoidable for a period of time — but I had never made the deliberate decision to sit down and listen to his music in earnest. This, I now realize, was a pretty gigantic mistake. I’m currently making up for lost time.
Bieber took over the airwaves and the lockers of tweens everywhere after the release of his first single, “One Time,” in 2009. In the course of two years, the now 17-year-old released his first EP, My World (platinum in the U.S.), his first full-length album, My World 2.0 (twice platinum in the U.S.), a 3-D movie entitled Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (basically platinum if ticket sales worked that way) and will release his forthcoming album, Under the Mistletoe (which will likely go platinum), on November 1.
This brings me to my main point: the glory that will be The Justin Bieber Christmas Album. It was only a matter of time. The awkward part about promoting a Christmas album is that Bieber released his first single from Under the Mistletoe, aptly titled “Mistletoe,” in mid-October. So it’s a little jarring to listen to Bieber’s new tunes when we haven’t even passed the Halloween milestone, much less Thanksgiving, but we’ll give Biebs the pass because “Mistletoe” is seriously catchy.
Unlike many of Bieber’s biggest hits, it’s the verses rather than the chorus on “Mistletoe” that compel. “I should be chillin’ with my folks, I know, but I’mma be under the mistletoe,” sings Bieber.
Annnnnd cue the swooning. The music video is especially interesting. It’s usual Bieber fare: fake snow is falling all over the place, his hair is impeccable, and then there’s the lady of his dreams looking longingly into his eyes at an outdoor café. But all of a sudden Biebs is looking older. He’s definitely the same teen heartthrob who flirts with the camera, but it’s now more apparent that he’ll soon be a legal adult. Even his sound is a little more mature — as I blasted his new single nonstop this past week, one of my roommates asked incredulously, “What happened to his squeak?”
Bieber isn’t exactly a stranger to the adult world of the music industry, even at seventeen. He has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the business, from Usher and Chris Brown to Ludacris and The Dream. He’s already working on his next album after Under the Mistletoe, called Believe, which is expected to drop 2012 and feature the likes of Drake and Kanye West. Since he’s currently hanging out somewhere between early teen pop star and established musician, Bieber could go in any direction with Believe. He’s right on the threshold of adulthood and has the opportunity to show the world that he’s more than just a pretty face with millions of young female admirers.
Bieber is headed in the right direction to make the transition from teen to adult, one that’s often riddled with difficulties in the music industry. He’s ensured at least a decent album in Believe by employing Kanye and Drake. Even amidst insane haters and equally insane love-stricken fans, Bieber has somehow maintained not only a level head but a clean image and a sense of humor. His videos for website Funnyordie.com that make light of his celebrity status (“Bieber Takes Over”) and his sex symbol image (“Justin Bieber Screensaver”) could charm any skeptic into a Belieber. “Bieber’s popularity has caused safety concerns,” according to his Wikipedia article, but that popularity shows no signs of stopping.
So now Bieber will join the ranks of stars like Mariah Carey with the inclusion of a Christmas album in his discography. December is my favorite time of the year, and I’ll be adding Under the Mistletoe to my repertoire of Christmas music this holiday season. It’ll likely be a 15-track expansion of “Mistletoe”: charming, cute and mindlessly poppy. I don’t predict that Under the Mistletoe will break any new ground, especially as far as Christmas music goes, but it will provide an inoffensive Top-40 soundtrack to the holiday season. What may really kick-start Bieber’s mature musical career, though, will be Believe, and I really look forward to the innovation — or stagnation — that album has in store. For now, though, enjoy “Mistletoe:” “Your lips on my lips, that’s a very merry Christmas.”
