Growing up in the spotlight

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This article was published 10/06/2016 (3725 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last week, Justin Bieber followed the celebrity trend and released an emoji keyboard, which he has dubbed “Justmojis.”

For only $2.99, you can text your friends emojis that animate some of the Canadian singer’s most newsworthy moments: there’s a Justin with eggs on his head, a nod to the time he was caught egging his neighbour’s house; there’s a Justin with handcuffs, a nice reminder of his 2014 DUI, drag-racing and resisting-arrest charges; and, of course, there’s a Justin holding a bucket, in case we forgot about the time he (allegedly) peed into a mop pail while drunk.

Each one is a lighthearted take on an unflattering situation, but it’s tough to decipher whether Bieber is making fun of himself or making fun of the rest of us for caring about it in the first place.

But we do care, or at least someone does, otherwise it wouldn’t be front-page entertainment news when he changes his hairstyle. Do not mistake caring for loving, though — Bieber is one of the few artists the public loves to hate as much as his fans love to love. And it’s not as if he doesn’t fuel that fire by continuing to do silly things and by acting temperamental with both media and, oddly, his fans.

His most recent outburst came in the form of an Instagram post stating he will no longer take photos with fans, saying, “It has gotten to the point where people won’t even say ‘hi’ to me or recognize me as a human, I feel like a zoo animal and I wanna be able to keep my sanity.” Fair point, but it’s doubtful the Beliebers who paid hundreds of dollars for a VIP concert ticket will feel the same way.

As the emojis point out (including one depicting the “no photos” hoopla), the last few years have not been his best on a personal level. On top of multiple run-ins with the law, Bieber went through a very public breakup with fellow pop superstar Selena Gomez and starred in a host of inappropriate situations (including a face-palm-worthy moment when wrote he hoped Anne Frank “would have been a Belieber” in the Anne Frank House guest book during a visit to Amsterdam).

Professionally, however, his newest work has shown what Bieber, 22, is truly capable of as an artist.

His 2015 album, Purpose, is good. Like, actually, really good. He brought in some of the best producers in the business, including Skrillex and Kanye West, and it resulted in the best record of his career to date. The songs are deeper, full of personal introspection and exploration of real, substantial emotions; the beats are clever and catchy. It feels as if it wasn’t churned out on a deadline but genuine thought and care went into its production.

The first three singles — What Do You Mean?, Sorry and Love Yourself — were also Bieber’s first three Nos. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200.

The maturity and critical success of Purpose carried so much optimism for Bieber’s future, a possible signifier he’d finally started to grow up. But the sheer naivety that comes with his specific brand of youth — the kind where you have too much money and not enough (or the right) people teaching you how to be a good adult — still gets the better of him too often.

The hope is, of course, his next album will continue on the path of Purpose and the natural progression into real adulthood will be a good and lasting thing. But for now, we’ll have to just live with headlines such as “Justin Bieber booted for baring ass on Mayan pyramids,” which can now be animated with an emoji of his Calvin Klein underpants.

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @NireRabel