It’s been quite a transitional year for the young pop singer. Not only has it been full of controversy concerning his ‘bad boy’ behaviour towards reporters and his fans, it’s also been a year of change concerning Bieber’s image and music. The transition may not have been a complete 180 degree turn like Miley Cyrus, but it has happened. Musically, Bieber’s sound has undeniably changed. Although he still continues to sing romantic songs (“All That Matters”) the shift in their tone is subtle but still noticeable.
“All That Matters” may feature a soft romantic guitar continually playing in the background, but one can’t miss the sultry vocals and deep bass that sets the tone of the song. It seems that the young star (it’s hard to remember that he’s still only 19) is dabbling on the other side of the spectrum sonically, from heartfelt pop songs (‘You make me complete,You’re all that matters to me’) to rapping in songs such as ‘Lolly’ (‘Got your girlfriend at my crib watching Netflix, Let’s just admit that I’m the bestest’) which features Maejor Ali and rapper Juicy J.
Bieber’s transition into the rap and R’n’B scene seems to definitely be underway. Alongside the shift in his sound, a maturity to his image is noticeable as well. It seems that Bieber all of a sudden has discovered what protein shakes are as shots of him topless are becoming more and more frequent in his music videos. In addition to that, he seems to be sporting more and more the style of the ‘long shirt’ made famous by other rappers such as A$AP Rocky. His bad boy attitude may be part of publicity stunts, the consequence of stardom at such a young age or simply to match his new music style.
His new album, ‘Complete My Journals’ , is being released for a limited time only between 23rd December and 9th January on iTunes. New collaborations with Diplo, Big Sean, Lil Wayne and Future will most definitely set in stone his transition into the R’n’B industry. The singer understandably announced that he will be taking a break from the industry to allow his music to grow and mature as he has constantly been in the spotlight since 2008.
Either way, one can only hope he might take this time to actually enjoy being a teenager and change his tainted image of being one of the very few and very rare Canadians who are actually rude.
MusicUmpire 