Bieber Fever’s At An All Time Low
Justin Bieber has been a cornerstone of the pop-culture zeitgeist for nearly as long as anybody can remember— he was discovered by his longtime manager Scooter Braun when he was barely a teenager, and he’s been at the forefront of mainstream music news ever since. But his most recent drop— an album called “Swag” that was surprise released the Week of July 11— was less a massive comeback from teenage stardom and more of a reminder of Bieber’s dwindling influence.
Bieber himself has been the butt of an ongoing internet joke for the past two weeks— last month, a video of him uttering the bizarre phrase, “It’s not clocking to you that I’m standing on business” went viral. After the announcement of his album, his wife Hailey Beiber, who has also been at the center of much internet backlash, reposted an image of his album poster. “Is it finally f****** clocking to you?” She boldly captioned the image. Bold, because the internet has speculated, on multiple occasions, that Bieber doesn’t even like his wife that much. Twitter (now X) sleuths have evidenced this with a plethora of videos of Hailey Bieber being ignored by Justin at red carpets, parties, and even while walking down the road.
While statistics and critical reception of the album is yet to be released, the internet is already buzzing with talking points about what this new drop might mean; if there are any hidden messages or overt lies in his lyric (as with most pop-stars, there’s more likely to be the latter than the former), and what this newest installation means for someone with a career that’s spanned decades. Some wonder why he chose to drop his album so suddenly, citing this event and other statements from Bieber as evidence that the singer has no management staff anymore. Others are taking a far less dramatic approach, simply choosing to focus on the lyrics and try to analyze where those are coming from. Regardless of the deeper meaning behind the songs themselves, however, the relatively lukewarm reaction to someone who spent his teenage years as an international heartthrob begs the question— in which direction is the singer hoping to steer his career— and life?