First of all, I’m a 24 year old man. To think even 2 days ago of starting a blog, and making the first post about Justin Bieber – is WEIRD.
But last night, I saw a screening of his movie “Never Say Never” in the city, and have done a complete backflip on this annoying kid who clogged up the trending topics on my twitter feed for months on end.
I knew he was popular. I get why tweenage girls lose their s*%t over him. But here’s some fascinating things I would never have known (nor bothered to research) if I hadn’t seen the movie:
He’s Canadian. They speak funny, which amuses me.
His mum isn’t a stage mum. She raised him on her own and let his talent develop naturally (the dad is of course, back on the scene these days $$$).
He has an insane natural musical ability. The movie has old footage of him keeping perfect rhythm on a drum kit at just 2 years old. By 10, he had a captive audience while busking with a guitar on the street.
About the same age, he started posting videos of himself singing on youtube – like this:
He was discovered on Youtube. Everyone knows that. He had thousands of subscribers before a dude named Scooter Braun saw these videos – and took him under his wing.
Usher has actually helped him from early on. I always assumed Usher jumped on board when the Beebs started to get some momentum – as a mentor but mostly to cash in. I was wrong about that! The first time they met, Bieber went up to Usher to sing for him in the street, and Usher palmed him off. Eventually Usher caved, and let him sing. There’s footage of the first recording session they had together – which I thought was pretty impressive: this 12 year old kid with no training won Usher over in a matter of minutes.
I was playing Playstation games and having inexplicably long showers when I was 12. Not bailing up R’n’B singers for a chat in the street.
And I guess the other weird thing I got out of the film, is that he’s NORMAL. He’s just a 16 year old bro, with a sense of humour, who millions of people look up to and occasionally wet their pants for.
After the movie, I paid $10.99 and downloaded his album on iTunes. Keep that to yourself. Whether you can tolerate his music or not – this movie is worth checking out – just for the backstory alone.
Never Say Never is out in Australia on April 7th.
I’m on air at Nova 969 in Sydney 12-4pm weekdays.
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