The past fifty years have had plenty of talented, game-changing musicians: The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and the Jonas Brothers, to name a few. Ultimately, one lone, slightly high-pitched voice has stood out: Justin Bieber.
The album “Believe” by Justin Bieber was, in case you missed it for some reason, released in June of 2012. “Believe Acoustic,” released in January this year, is remarkably similar to “Believe” only with a more acoustic sound.
As I am not a hard-core Belieber, I was unaware that the Biebs even had it in him to release an acoustic album; the only songs I’ve heard by him were bass and auto tuned heavy pop songs that I make up the lyrics to because I can’t fully understand what he’s saying.
One of the highlights of the “Believe Acoustic” is that I can completely make out what he’s saying, except when he goes all “oooh whoaaa ohhhh.” Then, I just lose patience with him.
Say what you want about Justin Bieber: he’s too girly, he’s too bratty, he doesn’t realize that he isn’t a twenty-five year old black man, but the kid has a good singing voice, which is showcased in this album (except, again, when he does the whole “oooh whoaaa ohhhh” thing. I really hate it when he does that).
The acoustic version of “Beauty and the Beat,” whose original version can be mid-numbingly repetitive, is very simply sung, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar, and is arguably one of the best tracks on the album. Ditto for “As Long As You Love Me,” although I’m still shocked that Bieber can get his voice to go that high.
Even “Boyfriend,” accompanied by only a guitar, sounds better without all the weird techno noises in the background, but I’m still so creeped out by “Girlfriend,” the parody of the song that I wasn’t able to listen to it all the way through.
The problem in this album arises more from lyrics and less from Bieber’s voice (although I’m sure most of the hipster population of New Trier would beg to differ). In the lesser-known song “Yellow Raincoat,” Bieber sings: “Cause I put on my raincoat, my yellow raincoat/Baby, it’s keeping me dry/I put on my raincoat, my yellow raincoat/You know exactly why.”
I do not know exactly why. I have no idea how to make sense of this song, except that it has something to do with girls and fame and rain. I feel like there’s a metaphor in there somewhere, but I’m missing it.
A slightly different problem arises with the song “Take You” (the song isn’t as sketchy as the title makes it seem). The guitar in this song is refreshingly different from the rest of the songs, but the lyrics are stale and unimaginative:“I can take you out, I can take you home/I can take you oh-oh-oh where you wanna go/I can pick it up, we could take it slow/I can take you home.”
I have never heard a pop, rock, or rap singer who doesn’t have at least one song about taking a girl home. We get it. Everyone wants to take a girl home. But lyrics such as “I might have a reputation, oh oh/ But there’s only me and you in this equation” aren’t going to help you leave your mark in the music industry.
While I have no deep hatred for the Biebs myself (I save all my celebrity anger for Scarlett Johansson. Who I hate. See me in person for more details) this album will undoubtedly be used by Baters (Bieber haters) to prove that his lyrics have no meaning, his music’s unoriginal, and he does that “oooh whoaaa ohhhh” thing way, too much.
All of that may be true, but this album also proves that even when Bieber sings to mediocre lyrics, if he uses his pretty, albeit slightly prepubescent voice, he will generate hits.