Justin Bieber is being pretty overt with his repentance.
The singer's new
album, which drops Friday, is titled "Purpose"; one of the hit
singles is "Sorry"; and Bieber has been talking plenty about how, at
the age of 21, he's putting his shenanigans behind him and focusing on his
career.
He also
announced a world tour for the album, which will start March 9 in Seattle.
"Purpose"
is poised to be one of the biggest albums of the year, and much is being made
of "Bieber's comeback." But should fans "belieb" that the
former bad boy has turned over a new leaf?
"I wouldn't
suggest being a child star," the singer
recently told Billboard magazine. "It's
the toughest thing in the world."
For Bieber,
that's been a bit of an understatement.
After storming
the music industry in 2008 with some hit YouTube videos, Bieber went from teen
phenom to alleged delinquent. The claims against him included a DUI in Miami
Beach and the vandalism of a neighbor's house with eggs (he agreed to a plea
deal the DUI case and reportedly paid restitution for the egg-throwing
incident).
His behavior was a thing of tabloid dreams, enough to earn him a
Comedy Central roast. And now, after taking a year off, the Biebs is back.
Bieber recently
told TV host Jimmy Fallon that "I just had a bunch of knuckleheads around
me, and that's never good."
"I just went through a place of just trying to figure it
out," he said. "You have to figure out what you are OK with and what
you're not OK with, but you have to test the waters. I just happened to be ...
in the spotlight in front of cameras all the time."
His single
"What Do You Mean" went to No. 1 on iTunes in less than five minutes. The New York
Times dissected the song in an article and a video, exploring the new partnership between
Bieber and electronic dance music impresarios Diplo and Skrillex.
Along the way,
Bieber did what he does best: kept the faithful amped for the album's release
by directing them to his new videos and sharing the types of Instagrams that
keep Beliebers around the world enthralled.
His Instagram
account is so massive, with more than 43.5 million followers, that the company
told Wired it had to
figure out a new system for how to handle the overabundance of
"likes."
Pal and early
fan Ellen DeGeneres helped with the effort, declaring "Bieber week"
on her show ahead of his album release and surprising some superfans with the
chance to meet him and receive tickets to a concert.
"I'm real. You
can touch me," he told one sobbing fan as he hugged her.
Though it's not that there haven't been some missteps lately
with his image.
In October, he
was criticized for stopping a concert and leaving the stage in Spain after
overzealous fans refused to let him clean up a spill. The same week, he left in
the middle of an interview at a Spanish radio station. He later apologized via
social media.
Around the same time, he released another single, "I'll
Show You." The lyrics seemed a message to his critics:
"My life is
a movie and everyone's watching
So let's get to
the good part and past all the nonsense
Sometimes it's
hard to do the right thing
When the
pressure's coming down like lightning
It's like they
want me to be perfect
When they don't
even know that I'm hurting
This life's not
easy, I'm not made out of steel
Don't forget
that I'm human, don't forget that I'm real"
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