What do you think of Justin Bieber?

He should have been a girl, named Bebe.
Not a fan either.

I am indifferent.

I try to remain as ignorant of him as possible, as with Lady GaGa, Nicky Minaj, people like that.

If life was a movie, he’d play the body of a convenience store clerk who was killed off screen…unremarkable.

I’m not a fan, mostly because I’m not a 12-year-old girl.

Even though I’m not a fan, the hardcore Bieber haters annoy me. Like all of those people that talked (and still talk) constantly about how much the Twilight films sucked. I don’t get it. I don’t like a lot of artists/actors/films, but I simply don’t watch/listen to them. You won’t hear me going on some long-winded rant about how much I hate the show Cougar Town. I just change the channel when it comes on.

He’s a girl. He’s gay. Blah blah blah. Why? Seriously, who cares? It got old a long time ago.

I too am pretty indifferent. He obviously has a lot of screaming girls around him, but he also has a lot of haters. I think it’s lame to hate with such passion. I mean, as long as he doesn’t hurt anybody, he can do what he wants. As long as I don’t have to listen to his “music”.

I am not a fan, he is for pre-teens. My 15 year odl daughter and her friends can’t stand him.

He has talent, but he unfortunately has listened to all the hype over the last four or five years, and he believed it. Now he is old enough to learn that his mom and the publicists all lied to him, and he is a musician/singer, not the new messiah.

He kind of reminds me of Donnie Osmond when he was a kid. I was too young to actually remember that, but an aunt who was near my age was a HUGE fan of him and had posters and albums of him. Bieber even looks like Osmond with his hair cut.

I don’t.

Happily, I don’t think of him at all. What a joke this kid is.

He’s just a kid and I try not to make fun of him. From this picture it looks like he’s still sits in a car seat.

I don’t know @mambo. I may not be into blondes, pretty boys, or 19-year-olds, but the bod is shaping up nicely.

I’m not the biggest fan of his music, but I won’t deny that he is talented. Sometime his music doesn’t do a great job of showcasing it, but then I don’t quite think he would be the person to blame for that. I don’t hate him, like some people do. Hardcore UnBeliebers annoy me just as much as hardcore Beliebers do, though.

Spoiled brat. Appeals to screaming little girls. Has the musical talent of a walrus.

He was ok when he was on Leave it to Beiber, but the only redeeming thing about him now is that his car ran over a paper nazi. ;-p

Ugh.

Not much. Don’t hear him much on the radio, but then I barely listen to the radio. My personal taste in music centers around Viking Metal and German Industrial. I have no time for Bieber and I don’t care what he does. The little I’ve heard of him has failed to convince me that I should pursue his work further. Das Ich FTW bro. But more power to Bieber and his fans, live and let live and alla dat.

^^Doesn’t seem like a very Viking sort of attitude, Symby :-p

@livelaughlove21 The pushback is from people who dislike the way music is being produced, marketed, written and sold by the modern record labels. It used to be about talent, creativity, and soul (look at all of the amazing jazz legends of their time—few or none of which would have been “discovered” if the record labels back then behaved as they do now).

The problem is that there is real talent out there that’s being marginalized by crap like Beiber. There are also talented bands out there who get contracts and end up being warped into these caricatures of what a successful artist is supposed to be, both musically and stylistically. For me, Beiber symbolizes that in our culture, it’s about style, the outfits, the lighting, the makeup, the dancing, the ghostwriting, etc.

So no it’s not all Beiber’s fault and this patten has been going on for a long time (Vanilla Ice, New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Justin Timberlake etc.—not to mention all of the girls). But he is a huge symbol, and his success only incentivses the record companies to promote this pattern of manufactured “talent” when the world would be an infinitely better place if they were promoting real artists with genuine talent.

The Beatles used to be a boy band too. Who knows, maybe one day Bieber’s dentist will slip him some LSD.

I’m a “belieber” and I’m not 12.

It doesn’t bother me if people just don’t particularly care for him. It’s only normal that not everyone is going to like everyone else in the world.
...but haters? really?
I have a strong dislike for haters. If you don’t like someone don’t bother your head about them. Same as all the other people in the world we don’t particularly like.

@bookish1 The Beatles were a boy band? I know they’re pop, but wow, the definition sure changes throughout the years.

@Symbeline: Not in the sense of manufactured, like the Monkees or Backstreet Boys, but in the sense that they were a sensation for adolescent girls, before they were taking acid and hanging out with Ravi Shankar. Haven’t you ever seen those videos of 15 year old girls just beside themselves at early Beatles shows? :-p

@gorillapaws Alright, but who’s to say what is genuine talent and what isn’t? I’m not saying Justin Bieber has genuine talent, but isn’t the quality of music largely subjective? What you might call “real talent” may sound like a bunch of noise to me, or simply put me to sleep. What I think sounds amazing might sound awful to you. And I’m not talking about who can carry a note and who can’t, and I’m sure that’s not what you’re talking about either.

I know that the entertainment factor has overshadowed the talent factor, and you’re more than welcome to dislike that, but a whole lot of people enjoy it – so who’s to say that’s wrong or inferior? Just because I find Nicki Minaj annoying and generally a waste of space, what good would it do to constantly bitch about how much I hate her? Because, in the end, a lot of people like her. And why would that anger me? I’m free to listen to what I enjoy, whether it be mainstream pop or indie folk-type music, just as they’re free to listen to whatever they like, garbage or not.

My point is that it’s stupid to constantly insult him, or hate him, because you’re unhappy with where the music industry is. What exactly will it solve? Nada, that’s what. So why do it? It seems like it would be more useful to ignore it and avoid it, which can’t be too hard because I don’t remember the last time I heard a Justin Bieber song on the radio.

What kind of radio do you listen to? lol

@genjgal Who are you asking? This is where @‘s are helpful.

@Harold That isn’t a nice thing to say about a walrus!

Some of his music is catchy so I’m not dissing his talent even though I wouldn’t choose to buy it myself. However, I really don’t like the way the media portray him. Whether it’s a true reflection or not, he comes across as a spoilt little brat who has let fame go to his head.

@livelaughlove21 It was you I was speaking of.

I just think it would be depressing to want to be a music man (or woman) but your music only appeals to 9 to 11 year old girls.

@genjgal I like a variety of music, from pop to country to rock to…whatever. Aside from jazz and any heavy metal or emo screamo music, I have interests in all genres. My least mainstream favorite is Amos Lee, but he’s actually pretty well known now I believe. I like the folksy stuff quite a bit.

@livelaughlove21 I see. I’m still slightly surprised about not really hearing his music on the radio. (not that it’s an issue) In particular, I’ve heard Beauty and a Beat a lot on the radio.

@Dutchess_III I totally agree! Although he has been a huge thing with young girls, more for his image than his music, I’ve heard adults realize they actually like his recent music.
“Wait…this is Justin Bieber? Oh….”
“I don’t like Justin Bieber, but I actually like this song!”
Until recently he’s been a kid (and still sort of is) so it’s really not odd that his music has appealed almost exclusively to kids. As he’s becoming an adult it’s also not odd that his music is beginning to appeal to adults.

@genjgal I was only saying that avoiding his music is easy if you don’t like it. No one is forced to listen to Justin Beiber. It’s not hard to change the radio station.