The Bieber Effect

Vanessa Grigoriadis writes a lengthy profile of Justin Bieber at Vulture, analyzing along the way our “sadistic” fascination with watching young celebrities lurch their way toward adulthood. 

Bieber is the name of a legion: Most of today’s biggest pop stars “were teen stars, or at least made money off music, by 16 (other than country and hip-hop stars—though rappers enter the game early, it takes some time to monetize the flow). I present not only Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera, but also Beyoncé, on Star Search at 12; Katy Perry, recording on a Christian label under “Katy Hudson,” her real name at 16, the same age Pink was when she inked her deal; Drake, starring in Degrassi: The Next Generation; and Chris Brown, discovered at his dad’s gas station at 13. Shakira, Usher, and Taylor Swift had record deals by ninth grade. Rihanna left her crack-addicted father on Barbados around 15 for a deal at Def Jam. And the opposite end of the pop spectrum is held down right now by Lorde, an actual teenager.”

Grigoriadis doesn’t offer much in the way of explanation, but she does pinpoint the oddity of the phenomenon (which I’m furthering with this post!): “Bieber is an essential player, and beneficiary, of the low-culture fixation of the moment: whether child stars, those ­entitled, overpaid—yet also tragic and pitiful—figures can make it across the wobbly bridge to adulthood without falling in the choppy waters below. This is a kinky national ritual, our current form of pop-culture sadism. You can call it whatever you want—the collective ethos of a nation of Puritans trying to assuage sexual ­anxiety; a secular society combating a fear of death by torturing a cast of teenage voodoo dolls; or, at the least, a coded language communicating parental discomfort with our own children’s growing up—but you can’t deny that it’s a totally bizarre obsession, one that could happen only in the youth-obsessed, fame-hungry, prudish and pornish land of America.”