Believe: Bieber's Transition Into Musical Adulthood

I always find it a little amusing how people seem to have such strong feelings about Justin Bieber, They either love him or they can’t stand him. From his debut album, we have been hearing on and on about how his voice does not appeal to many, his music is not matured and so on. But, with this recent album, chances are that people will start taking this teenage pop start a little more seriously. His newest album ‘Believe’ shows that the star has truly matured in terms of his music and dishing out some work that is worth praising.

The tracks ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘As long As You Love Me’ are already huge hits and have been compared with the likes of Justin Timberlake. No, I’m not saying Bieber has outdone Timberlake or even reached the latter’s level of work. But if he can get some highly reputed magazines to draw up comparisons with the star, then he is certainly doing something right. Going back to his album, the eighteen year old pop star claims that this album has something that will appeal to everybody’s tastes. Going by the reviews that he is getting, that cannot be fully true.

 Even though most agree that Justin Bieber has in fact outdone his own earlier work, not all of them are gushing about ‘Believe’. Many claim that his lack of maturity still makes way into his work and that cannot be a good thing. Case in point, often in the album, the singer’s voice and persona are given less priority than the games he plays with the technicalities. I understand that it is the star’s personal style to be the opposite of subtle, but with time these little details need to be paid some serious attention. 

Even after all this, ‘Believe’ is definitely not close to a failure. It works for many of his listeners and on many different levels. This album was supposed to be a ‘reinvention’ of his work and in some ways, it is one. It helps to show that the star is trying to mature as a singer and as a person. Even though Bieber has not really delivered what can be considered to be a deep and soulful album, he still has improved his own style in various ways. Along with that, he has shown the courage and confidence to try new styles as well. I don’t know about others but it definitely makes me curious about what this teen star will be able to deliver in the near future.