No, I don’t have the fever. The Bieber Fever.
Once I got past the solid six months or so of being aggravated by the screaming girls and the insane hair when Justin Bieber first reached super-stardom, thus taking over every news program, talk show, and magazine, I was able to step back and appreciate what the Bieber machine has been able to accomplish from a business point of view. The boy is a marketing dream. Eventually I decided to listen to something this kid said and was pleasantly surprised to find a smart, respectful young man who has actual – wait for it – talent.
Despite my conversion to mild Justin Bieber appreciation, when I heard that he was going to be starring in a movie about his life (p.s. He’s 16) I wanted to be nothing but annoyed. But then I saw this trailer:
Suddenly I viewed Justin Bieber and his story through a new pair of eyes….his mom’s.
The video of Justin drumming on a kitchen chair could easily be my little guy, Noah, who began turning anything and everything into drumsticks at the age of 2. Just before turning 3, he got up and performed with the children’s choir during a retirement home performance and obviously knowing every word to every song, the director allowed him to continue singing every performance despite being two years too young. My child loves music. He just naturally is drawn to rhythms and sounds, dancing and playing. Will he someday be Justin Bieber? I would never imagine such a thing in my wildest dreams. But that’s not the point. The point is that here is the story of a child who loved something and showed a God given talent for it, and his family and community surrounded him with the love and support that he needed to become something amazing. And isn’t something amazing exactly what each and every one of us wants for our children?
Now every time I’m watching TV and the commercial for Never Say Never begins with little Justin Bieber drumming in his kitchen, all I can see is my child who, at three, grabbed chopsticks off a table at EPCOT and drummed along on his chair to a live performance from Allstar Weekend, refusing to stop when the music stopped, his feet moving, his little body dancing…
Dang it, Justin Bieber. Stop making me cry.