JUSTIN BIEBER
VERSUS
KE$HA
LADY GAGA
LIL WAYNE
Today we focused a lot of our time on the great pop phenom Justin Bieber. Within our discussion my colleagues had a myriad of opinions on not only Bieber himself, but also the music video for his hit single Pray. In Pray, Bieber sings of hope, change and striving for a better tomorrow. Imagery in the video include Bieber visiting patients in a local hospital, the people of Haiti both in field hospitals and on the streets, Bieber meeting with Make a Wish children, soldiers going to Afghanistan and praying behind the scenes at his show. The first feeling that I felt from the video was that it is incredibly refreshing. Although Bieber functions as a money making entity (with t-shirts, dolls, pencil cases and hair clips (to name a few) made in his image), he also stands as an inspirational figure for the younger generation. Think about it, who are the other icons found in the top 10s of the pop world? Katy Perry? Lady Gaga? Lil Wayne? K$sha?!?! Can they function as good, wholesome role models? I believe this to be untrue. Some of these pop icons have prison records, sex scandals, music videos that border on being pornographic and lyrics that truly disgust. However, Justin Bieber, as found in his lyrics and the video Pray, stands as a positive role model and inspirational figure for teens all over the world.
It is here that I would like to prove my point: Justin Bieber (and his entire media campaign) is not meant for twenty somethings or people within our age bracket, rather his target audience is 14, 15, 16 year olds and even younger. After hearing the negative feedback from our classmates regarding the Bieber video, I first considered their comments and thought that “yes, he is being marketed in a certain way to make money”, however, I think that we need to get over this and recognize that really, his entire career and mantra is really a positive. He stands as a figure young people can recognize and look up to. To add, a fellow classmate mentioned that what Bieber was doing in the video (visiting hospitals) is nothing new. She spoke of Avril Lavigne in her hayday visiting a hospital under the watchful eye of the Much Music cameras. I think that it is here that really my point is proven, Bieber does not stand for someone who we (University students) watch. As we watched programs of Avril Lavigne and other celebrities taking part in philanthropic activities in grades 7 and 8, Bieber is now their Lavigne, Backstreet Boy or Spice Girl.
Another point of interest that a classmate brought up is that really, Bieber does not have to make a video like this. He is a teenage pop idol who could really do ANYTHING in the world and still people would watch. However, in Pray he chose to raise awareness of world issues such as homelessness, health care, economics, disease, hunger and natural disasters. With this, Bieber is acting as a medium between what is going on in the world and younger citizens of humanity who may not necessarily be aware of the world around them.
All in all, I believe that Justin Bieber is not only a positive role model for young teens, but also a role model for the rest of us to be an agent of change and live out our lives full of compassion, love and understanding for others.
PS. Justin Bieber reportedly promised to donate a portion of sales from his last album to Childrens hospitals throughout the US. He tweeted “"I am in the position to give back thanks to my fans and God. I wrote Pray thinking I wanted to help others and I feel like I have a responsibility to do so. "What is the point of doing all this if you can't make a difference in others' lives? This album is a gift to my fans and the money raised from it allows us all to help out."...
found here: http://www.metrolyrics.com/2010-justin-bieber-donates-to-charity-news.html
Katy Perry's video for California Girls
Ke$ha's video for Take it Off (make note of the lyrics... really great for 14 year olds)
Ke$ha's video for We R Who We R (note her lyrics.. 'getting sexified')
Lil Wayne's video for Gonorrhea
Lil Wayne Trial Date Set in Yuma
Hello Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteCheck my comment on your post down below:
http://marica-christianityandpopularculture.blogspot.com/2011/03/commenting-on-kathleens-post.html
Hi Kathleen, I wrote a response to your post here:
ReplyDeletehttp://jesuschristsuperblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/response-to-kathleens-thoughts-on.html
I must start off by saying… who the heck is K$sha and why is she wearing an American flag as a head towel in that picture?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that Justin Bieber is not for us. I am 29, and Justin Beiber is not meant for me, in the same way that Dr. Dre is not meant for my mother and Queen was not meant for her mother.
That said, I think your choice of who to compare Justin Bieber to was a bit erroneous because you compare a 17-year-old to two 24-year-olds and a 28-year-old. The age difference is a big factor that needs to be taken into account.
Also, I do not see Lil Wayne or Lady Gaga as any different than Snoop Dogg or Madonna was for me and my peers in the early 1990s. Nor do I see them as being that much different than Mariah Carey and Eminem in the 2000s. In fact, these artists should not be role models for young people for the simple fact that young people should not be listening to their music. Just because they are in the top-40 does not mean they should be role models for children.
Having said that, I am not naïve enough to think that children are not listening to these artists. When I was an 8-year-old boy, I was listening to NWA, Tupac and Run-DMC, so I know that kids are listening to Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne. But that does not mean that they need to be role models for young people. I am sure if you asked the artists themselves, they would say that their music is aimed at older teenagers and 20-somethings, not tweens and under, which is the crowd that Justin Bieber is aimed at.
Justin Bieber projects a very wholesome image that many parents can get behind… but so did Britney Spears. My objection with Justin Bieber is not his message or in his being a role model, it is on the pressure placed on his shoulders. He has to be perfect, and I do not think that that is a fair standard to hold ANY 17-year-old to. The problem I see is not in whom children idolize, but more in the age of the ones being worshipped. Justin Bieber might be able to maintain his clean image, but when Lindsay Lohan made The Parent Trap no one thought she would turn out the way she did when she got older.
Justin Bieber needs to be able to make the same mistakes that every other teenager makes. But with the spotlight shinning so brightly on him, I worry that any tiny misstep will be treated as a major disaster. Just look at the hubbub over Miley Cyrus getting high. She was 18, in the privacy of her own home – or wherever the heck she was – and she did something that a vast majority of 18 year olds do. Yet, because she used to be on a TV show aimed at children, this was treated as a catastrophic event. All of the people who judged her based on this one indiscretion, need to look very hard in the mirror and ask themselves if they would have wanted a camera turned on their 18-year-old selves. I doubt they would. Heck, I know I wouldn’t.
I do not have a problem whatsoever with Justin Bieber as a role model based on his content. Based on his age, however, is another matter. Maybe he will be able to keep it together, but it is possible he could be another Drew Barrymore.
Hey Kathleen!
ReplyDeleteI wrote a response to this post here :
http://faithbooknews.blogspot.com/2011/03/response-to-kathleens-finding-positive.html