Justin isn’t the first and he won’t be the last.
No one with a straight face could deny that Pop stardom is a blessing, one that so few will ever be able to fully enjoy. Its perks are better than the best benefits your depressing nine to five can offer; money coming in hand over fist, attention from adoring fans, and literally, everyone wanting to be a part of your brand. However, this road less traveled doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness and content, but often times to the haunting cave, one was so desperately attempting to avoid. A curse wrapped in multiple layers of blessings.
It is a disease of sorts: the same sickness that befell on Britney Spears’ head when she decided to cut off her hair, the virus that pushed Whitney Houston to cope with drugs, and the feverish alignment that torments Kanye West currently. Stardom’s tricks have not changed; rather, its tactics have been revamped, thanks to the addition of social media and the internet, making celebrities’ lives as transparent and public as ever. Everyone with a wi-fi connection or a smart phone can quickly look through moments of their lives, and critique, mock, or edify them Fans have never had such a strong relationship with their stars before, but now everything is laid bare.
Justin Bieber, even if he was righteous and still wearing Disney Ears, would still have a difficult time surviving the current social landscape. A quick perusal on twitter or your favorite blog’s comment section will leave you with a dark impression of those who write online; the web is a cynical and often offensive place to travel, anonymity reigns with an iron fist. People are so quick to jump on any small misstep, creating memes in a blink of an eye; if Justin was just a nice young man, he would probably be too nice or fake for a large portion of viewers, look at Macklemore’s trials.
However, he doesn’t want to be that golden boy, nor does he want to be your role model. He wants to be himself, which at nineteen is a pretty tough thing to do, because (if you are old enough to remember) you don’t really know who you are, you just go. Those late teen, early twenties years are seemingly there for risk taking and mistakes, everyone goes through them. When have newly licensed kids driven cars responsibly all the time? When have they spent money wisely? When have they listened?
The problem is brought on by the attention his status brings. When he was speeding in his gated Los Angles neighborhood with Tyler, the creator, what would have been a non-story for even the most boring Midwestern Town, became the topic of conversation for a couple of days—going so far as to make national news. When he went to Brazil and he traveled to a brothel, which we are not condoning, the escort posted a video online of him lying in her bed. Presumably this woman has had clients before Bieber, unless she had what can only be described as the greatest first day ever, but none would bring her as much notoriety as the singer.
Each time his name is brought up in the news, a negative piece was assumed to follow. His growing pains were on full display for the world to see, and obviously, he was doing some extremely reckless activities.
A major facet of growing up is figuring out what influences to take and from whom to inherit them from. Obviously those closest to you are the first we draw from, our friends and family. Bieber’s friends are in the industry or are as naïve as he is. Everyone wants to be cool, so he took from whom he thought were cool and try to incorporate their styles into his life. Most were harmless, but hilarious: his new wardrobe, tattoos mysteriously showing, an ever shorter haircut, and finally, where he hung out. He started socializing with more and more rappers, which gets blamed for a potion of his shortcomings. Although, it seems it was his longing to be accepted amongst the “cool” kids that really did majority of the grunt work, he wanted everyone to see him as the coolest pop star on the planet.
Drugs and alcohol always go hand and hand, when it comes to that suave mystique. Therefore, they had to find some way into his life, and of course Instagram and Twitter needed to be aware of that. When he was throwing eggs at his neighbor’s house, Police searched his home and found drugs on the premises. They arrested his friend, Lil Za for possession and presumably took away Bieber’s weapon of choice, the carton of 12 large cage free, organic eggs.
Then he went to King Of Diamonds, also known as Miami and what happened next will live with him for the rest of his life. He was caught drag racing on a residential street, while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, with an expired license and not enough sense to comply with the officers. Most likely he will be able to come from this without too much more than a slap on the wrist and a serious donation to the county police station, but the repercussion in the public will follow him.
The Miami Heat have already announced that he is banned from all games, because they don’t want the attention he brings. It might seem small, but it is only the beginning. While everyone might have gone through what he is going through, in terms of life (not riches or status), the world is constantly staring at him. Waiting for a chance to take him down, and his rough transition to maturity is the best time to do so. His frailties and bad judgment calls have real consequences to them; people are looking to make his life impossible.
That isn’t to say that he doesn’t share responsibility in this; he most certainly should shoulder a significant amount of the blame. However, it’s hard not to sympathize with a kid trying to understand what this whole life is about, who has way too much money and influence to handle. It is an unfortunate situation he finds himself in, constantly with his back against the wall. More times than not, those negative forces will find a way to win and knock them down a few pegs. Hopefully he will be able to rise above all of this and have a great career.
Although, it seems tragedy is on the horizon.
Jimi (@Nativejimi)
