Wazzup everybodyyyyy!!!
I’m doing great, thanks for asking. Today’s post is a little late, no fuel to work with (Yes, fuel affects everything) and when I got to charge my phone I was preoccupied with the hot gist of this weekend, popular Twitter user @sugabelly’s rape story. Basically she called out some very rich Abuja big boys (most of who are now married) for gang raping her back in the day. The war of words is still ongoing on twitter and it is quite a spectacle. For more on that visit her twitter page @sugabelly.
Now to our own business for this week, our PURPOSE if you’d like 🙂 Everyone’s favorite juvenile offender sweetheart Justin Bieber a.k.a The Biebs finally came out of benders and DUI charges to release an album two weeks ago, his first in two years since the not so financially rewarding 2013 album “Journals”. The album is called PURPOSE and represents Justin’s big attempt at a comeback into the upper echelons of the music industry. Let’s be honest, he needed one after the whole Orlando Bloom punching him thing (allegedly).
Purpose came out on the 13th of this Month. It was preceded by the collaboration “Where Are U Now” with Skrillex and Diplo which was musically lukewarm, but with good promotion and a shortage of good songs this year became a major summer hit, paving the way for a strong wave of publicity and the release of PURPOSE.
Purpose was earnestly promoted. Justin performed everywhere that was anywhere and involved many celebrities in hyping the album’s premier single, What Do You Mean. Before its release more than 20 famous faces including Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid and Ellen Degeneres participated in an Instagram countdown for the song, and its release coincided with the “accidental” leaking of nude photographs of Justin Bieber showing his immense talents.
Yes, the pictures just happened to be taken outside in broad daylight on a street where hundreds of other persons were passing by. Justin just happened to be naked, around the time when he was promoting a new song, and facing the camera. Such an accident.
Anyway, if we were not interested in what he was selling before, we certainly had a change of heart, and the pictures caused quite a stir, with many wondering whether he had been feeding his fellow separately. The gimmick worked, he had our attention.
What Do You Mean is an R and B styled song with an EDM infusion. Slow but groovy, his vocal rendition is that smooth Bieber style that once made even adult women blush. The song is interesting and well written, a Friday night jam in the more mellow clubs or where the people haven’t been introduced to African music. More interesting is the movie like video where he and a beautiful girl are involved in well…….. Whatever.
The next single from the album is my favorite, “Sorry”.
Sorry is a beautiful EDM mix song basically about him saying Sorry a number of ways, but set to an uplifting beat less irritating than the one in Where Are U Now. It is a dance number well done and the audio quality is a testament to the numerous producers Bieber hired for this album. The accompanying music video however is a different pot of beans. And this beans is not sweet.
When we were expecting a Romantic themed heart melting video with a dance setting (Think the final performance of Dirty Dancing) Justin decided he wanted to go the unpredictable way and well not show up to his own video shoot. Okay; seriously the video of Sorry by Justin did not contain Justin – Only a group of girls in very colorful vintage outfits dancing against a pink backdrop to the song. For four minutes. Dazzall. For real. Imagine being a die-hard Belieber and using the last bits of your internet to watch it just to see your baby. Only to not see him.
Anyway people seem to still like the video, 202 million views on YouTube eez not a joking sturv.
What Do You Mean went to number one on the billboard charts, Sorry peaked at number two. Those were the only two major singles released, they were enough to create buzz though. “I’ll show you” was released as a promotional single after the both of them. It’s an R n B song, averagely nice but forgettable. Oh yes the video for it was shot in Iceland. Big Deal.
There are other cool songs on the album, most notable “Love Yourself”, “Company” and “Mark my Words”. More R and B; More averagely good songs. Good enough to announce Bieber’s return, not good enough to place him atop the music world, seeing what Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Ariana Grande and hello, Adele have turned out in recent years. The whole track-listing plus the bonus tracks amount to 23 songs. Weldone Justin, u try.
Overall I rate the album 61%. Exciting for a while, catchy for a while longer. It’s nice and shows he still got it. Not legendary (it’s no Futuresex/ Lovesound). For what it’s worth, he did an impressive job of putting his name back out there as an artist, not a professional trouble maker. Hopefully he blows our minds more in the future.
That’s all for now folks. Till next week, live, love and most importantly, laugh.
All my love.
Boombox Hero.
