As a 23-year-old guy, I would not be considered in the core demographic of Justin Bieber's fanbase. And to be clear, I am not necessarily a fan. But neither am I a hater and dislike him either (I am neutral). As the Bieber Guy, I will explore the Justin Bieber phenomenon and understand why he may have lasting power in the biz.
FOLLOW BIEBER GUY ON TWITTER: @BIEBER_GUY
Justin Bieber will be premiering the music video for his Christmas single, "Mistletoe,"Tuesday, October 18 on MTV during MTV First: Justin Bieber at 7:54pm. Along with the video, Justin himself will be interviewed and will introduce the music video.
After premiering on MTV, the "Mistletoe" music video will be available to view online. The song is from his upcoming holiday album, Under The Mistletoe.
We're four days away from that very special premiere, but right now you can view a short preview of the video right here:
Under the Mistletoe will be released on November 1, and is available to pre-order online in both standard and CD/DVD Deluxe editions. To pre-order a copy, below are the Amazon product links (or pre-order them directly from the Bieber Guy STORE).
Last week, I reviewed the first third of Justin Bieber's My World 2.0, which included the songs "Baby," "Somebody to Love," "Stuck in the Moment," and "U Smile." So far, just by these four songs, it's a pretty good album so far. So let's get right back into it and take a closer look at the next four songs.
Next up is "Runaway Love." On any given album, no matter who the artist is, there will be songs that aren't those catchy single-worthy songs and songs that may not stand out for other reasons as well. And "Runaway Love" seems to be one of them. After a few listens, I've got the beat down and know the basics of what the song sounds like at this point.
At first, this was my feeling of the song: 'this song is, in some ways, kind of what I would call a filler song. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the song, but it's just there on the album and it's not the one on the album that people may remember above others. Then again, that may not even matter. Because I'm sure Beliebers have memorized every single song and can tell me why each and every song is recognizable in their own way.' That's what I thought at first of the song.
But after listening to it more and more, what stands out now is part of the chorus, especially moments like this: "I'm running out of time, where is my runaway love?" The hook of the song is obviously in the chorus where that lyric is located. The hook with the beat of the song is not too bad.
And on a non-lyric related comment, I was intrigued by the intro of the song when just the instruments are playing before Justin's voice comes in. That moment when it sounds like something's gone wrong and it's slowing down as if someone pulled the plug and it's turning off. It's little things like that that I find enjoyable.
On a final note, I will say this: The last time I listened to the song right before finishing this part of the review, I found myself singing along to the chorus. So I guess maybe the song does have traction in terms of catch-ability. But on an overall moment, it may not stand out as much as "Baby" or "Somebody to Love" or "U Smile," but it's not that bad of a song. Plus, it's got some pretty good R&B influences, which, again, are prevalent on this album. With the type of R&B infused into this song, I actually could easily see an actual R&B artist singing this song; it'd obviously be in a lower register, but no matter.
The 6th track is "Never Let You Go." Click HERE to read my in-depth review. In that review, I said that some of my favorite parts were: "It's like an angel came by and took me to heaven." Musically and lyrically, it's excellent. It's the mix of the words with how it's interpreted. Another standout part for me was here: "Let the music blast, we gon' do our dance." What stuck with me here is the vocal bounces, as I call them, where he take his voice up on certain words; they sort of bounce, if you will, with the vocal emphasis being on the start of "music" and on "do." Listening to "Never Let You Go" for this album review, I actually like it better now than when I reviewed it a couple of weeks ago.
Track 7 is "Overboard." What stands out with this song is the metaphor of being overboard and needing you to help me; I need you, and such: "I'm overboard and I need your love, Pull me up / I can't swim on my own, It's too much / Feels like I'm drowning without your love." I have to say, metaphors like this can be powerful. And they make an impact because it's so obvious what it represents. Even though most of the song is in metaphor, we all can tell what the song is about; we know what all that overboard stuff represents.
Now, I think the metaphorical nature worked up to a point. The part where I think the songwriter took it a tad overboard (pardon the pun) was the back to back to back (and on and on and on) use of "My life saver." Even though I understood the metaphor of that line, the repeated use of it back to back to back, etc. really didn't help the song. This part of it, in a way, took it into cheesy territory.
I hate to say this, but I found "Overboard" to be kind of a generic song. It didn't stand out to me. Actually, I think the musical beat of the song sounds like it's been done before in other songs; maybe that's why it doesn't sound new or anything like that to me. Outside of the overboard metaphors, there are some generic lyrics: "It's supposed to be some give and take, I know / You're only taking and not givin' anymore."
On a final note with this song, I have no idea who this Jessica Jarrell singer is. I had to do a Google search of her. Apparently, she's a teen singer. I found it a little odd that she's the one who opens the song and sings for a good while before Justin even starts in.
The next song, track 8, is "Eenie Meenie," with Sean Kingston. Until I did an online search of the song to find out more about it, I didn't know that it's actually a Sean Kingston song, not a Justin Bieber song. Four days after My World 2.0 was released, Sean dropped this song as one of his singles. And based on what we hear of the two of them in the song, I would certainly say that this is a Kingston song, not a Bieber song. But I'm glad that they included it on Justin's CD, especially since they're not label mates or anything like that.
I'm not going to go all in-depth or analyze the song or anything like that, because that's not the point of this song. "Eenie Meenie" is just supposed to be a fun song with a fun collaboration. It's a play on words, with the "Eenie Meenie Miney Mo" rhyme being played around with to fit a song about a girl. The girl they're talking about is indecisive, but don't look anywhere else because I'm Mr. Right.
Now that I've found out that the song is Sean Kingston's and was one of his singles, I may do a more in-depth review on it some other time. So stay tuned for that.
Now that I'm almost done reviewing the album, I can say that so far My World 2.0 is overall a strong album.
The other day, I reported that Justin's Under The Mistletoe single will be "Mistletoe," which would be released on October 18. We're two and a half weeks before that release, but at a recent concert stop, Justin performed "Mistletoe" live for the first time, which means we're getting our very first listen ever of the song.
Check out the video below: Even though we've now got our first listen at this song, I won't be doing a Bieber Guy Review of it until sometime after it officially is released as a single.
What'd you all think of the song? A great single? Disappointed? Leave your comments below.
Under The Mistletoe will be released on November 1, and is available to pre-order online in both standard and CD/DVD Deluxe editions. To pre-order a copy, below are the Amazon product links (or pre-order them directly from the Bieber Guy STORE).
We've got a few big pieces of news regarding Justin Bieber's upcoming holiday album, Under The Mistletoe. First, here's the tracklist for the disc, including the Deluxe Edition tracks:
1. Only Thing I Ever Get For Christmas
2. Mistletoe
3. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) [Feat. Usher]
4. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
5. Fa La La [Feat. Boyz II Men]
6. Christmas Love
7. All I Want For Christmas Is You [Feat. Mariah Carey]
8. Drummer Boy [Feat. Busta Rhymes]
9. All I Want Is You
10. Fa La La (a capella)[Feat. Boys II Men](Deluxe Edition)
11. Christmas Eve
12. Home This Christmas [Feat. The Band Perry]
13. Silent Night (Deluxe Edition)
14. Pray (Deluxe Edition)
15. Someday At Christmas (Deluxe Edition)
We already knew that Usher, Boyz II Men, and Mariah Carey were going to be included. But as we can see from this tracklist, Busta Rhymes and The Band Perry will also be featured as well.
The first thing I noticed when looking over this tracklist was some familiar songs we all know. I guess Scooter Braun must have jumped the gun early last month when he tweeted that all the songs would be original: "this christmas album is amazing. might be the best album yet. all originals...soon 2 b classics. every1 i play it 4 is blown away" (bold my emphasis). But not to fret; it does look like most of the songs are still originals, though.
I've been wondering lately when a single would be released. In a way, it's tricky because this is a holiday album, and that means a single would have to be released just outside of the main holiday time frame.
And Billboard announced that the single will be "Mistletoe," to be released on October 18 (that's before Halloween!)
As mentioned, there will be two versions of the album. The CD/DVD Deluxe Edition will include all of the above songs, plus the video for "Pray." As we all know, "Pray" is a song Bieber released on a previous release.
Under The Mistletoe will be released on November 1, and is available to pre-order online in both standard and CD/DVD Deluxe editions. To pre-order a copy, below are the Amazon product links (or pre-order them directly from the Bieber Guy STORE).
Have you been watching The Sing-Off, the singing competition where a cappella groups compete against each other? If you haven't, there's some amazing talent on that show!
During Monday night's episode, each group performed two songs, Current Hits and 1960's Favorites. For Vocal Point's Current Hits song, they went with Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never."
Watch it right here: So what'd you think of Vocal Point's rendition of the song?
As part of my ongoing Bieber Guy Project, I am exploring the Justin Bieber phenomenon by reviewing all of his music and other entertainment outlets. I will be reviewing the original "Never Say Never" in November, so stay tuned for that. (Follow Bieber Guy on Twitter @Bieber_Guy).
The Sing-Off airs Monday nights from 8-10pm on NBC.
We already know that Boyz II Men and Usher will collaborate with Justin on his upcoming Christmas album, Under The Mistletoe. Now we have word of another duet, this one with none other than Mariah Carey! One of Justin's dancers tweeted this: ":) RT @justinbieber @mariahcarey HONORED." As JustinBieberZone said, he followed up with this: "had to tweet that cause apparently people didnt believe me. haha justin bieber featuring mariah carey. believe it."
Boyz II Men will be great because Justin has looked up to them all his life. And Usher is a special one since he is Justin's mentor. But Mariah Carey is a big get for the album, since she's one of the best singers in the world, with one of the greatest vocal ranges ever.
Under The Mistletoe will be released on November 1, and is now available to pre-order online in both standard and CD/DVD Deluxe versions. To pre-order a copy, below are the Amazon product links (or pre-order them directly from the Bieber Guy STORE).
