honk if u luv justin!
Oh, wait. You’re probably not even old enough to drive. You can, however, text. Impassionedly, ungrammatically, relentlessly, when the subject is Justin Bieber, as it always, always is. Even as somebody older is likely ferrying you and a whole carload of screaming fellow tweens to the Arena at Gwinnett Center for Monday night’s sold-out Bieber show.
Or not.
“Justin Bieber Tix for sale! My daughter’s friend cancelled on her and I DEFINITELY don’t want to go,” a parent posted on Craigslist last week, offering to sell those precious tickets for $115. Apiece.
Who is this Bieber person, anyway?
omg, if u hve 2 ask ... !
Bieber, 16, is a god who walks among us. That is, he would be if God had a supermodel-y signature hairstyle (known as “the flip,” “the fringe,” or, most awesome of all, “the Bieber”). And if God had recently resorted to using a slow-moving Segway of all things to try to flee a horde of teenage girls who’d swarmed him in a Glendale, Ariz., parking lot. And if God had written a memoir at 16, as Bieber has done (“Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story” is due out in October, around the same time the “Fame: Justin Bieber” comic book. And stay tuned for the 3-D biopic next Valentine’s Day!).
But seriously, Bieber is one of us now. Two years ago, he relocated from his native Canada to Atlanta, where, from an undisclosed location, he’s already accomplished the truly extraordinary:
No, not becoming the youngest solo male act since Stevie Wonder in 1963 to have an album (last March’s “My World 2.0”) debut at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Not zooming past creaky old Lady Gaga to claim the title of YouTube’s most-watched video ever when “Baby” passed 246 million hits last month.
No, it’s the way he manages to keep “the Bieber” properly flipped, fringed and unfrizzed in Atlanta’s humidity. Mere mortals wanting a clue to how he does it can check out the MTV “news video” (its term, not ours) titled “Bieber Blow Dries His Hair,” currently at 118,000 viewings on MTV.com.
“We were trying to show what my life is like and coming behind the scenes,” Bieber told New York magazine about the clip, part of a documentary-style program, “Diary of Justin Bieber,” that MTV aired. “Sometimes I want to keep my private life to myself, but there are times when I want people to know what’s going on.”
u mean like tellin us abt yr very 1st grrlfrnd, noooooo!
Bieber first fell in love at age 13, according to the lyrics of “Baby.” Specifically, he was “starstruck/She woke me up daily/Don’t need no Starbucks.” If earlier tour stops are any indication, he’ll close Monday’s show in Gwinnett with his biggest hit.
Some of his other songs will hardly get short shrift, though: He’s previously soared over the crowd during “Up” and floated around in a giant heart while singing “Favorite Girl,” whose chorus begins, “You’re my special little lady/The one that makes me crazy.”
So it’s not exactly a Shakespearean sonnet, so what? Bieber can say a lot by saying a little, as when he recently told “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric he was “like, 13” when “both Usher and Justin [Timberlake] wanted to sign me. It was pretty crazy.”
Atlanta-based superstar Usher won out, as is well known to anyone afflicted with even the mildest case of Bieber Fever. For everyone else, the not-quite-as-short-as-a-text-message version goes like this:
Bieber was 12 when he finished second in a singing contest in Stratford, Ontario; his mother, Pattie Mallette, uploaded the video to YouTube, then continued to add more clips of Justin singing. Eventually they were seen by producer Scooter Braun, who brought Justin to Atlanta to sing for Usher. In October 2008, Bieber signed to a joint venture between Island Records and RBMG, Usher and Braun’s new label; soon after, he and his mother made what may be a permanent move to Atlanta.
justin pleez say ull stay here with us 4evr!
It might be harder now that Hollywood’s calling him. Bieber will guest-star on the season premiere of “CSI,” playing what CBS describes as “a troubled teen who is faced with a terrible decision regarding his only brother — a decision that leads him into an explosive confrontation with the CSIs.”
Explosive is fine. Just don’t muss “the Bieber.”
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Big, bigger, Bieber
The only thing free to access on bieberfever.com, Justin Bieber’s official fan club site, is the place to buy merchandise; everything else will set you back $8.99 per month. But never fear, we’ve got plenty of indicators of rampant Bieber Fever right here (all numbers as of Aug. 4):
4,181,770: Number of people following Bieber on his personal Twitter account
189: Number of Bieber-related Twitter accounts belonging to other people (including BelieberLadies, ThatsSoBieber, BieberLand, HighfeverforJB and OMGJustinIsCool)
39,800,704: Number of times his official YouTube channel has been viewed since January 2007
220,627,669: Number of times all videos on the channel have been viewed
18: Number of consecutive weeks "My World 2.0" has been on Billboard's Top Ten album charts since debuting at No. 1
10: Number of girls who fainted before Bieber's only Australia appearance in April
1: Number of products with "Bieber's Girl" scripted in pink across the back sold on bieberfever.com, a pair of $25 black "cheer shorts"
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Concert preview
Justin Bieber (with Sean Kingston)
7 p.m. Monday. Sold out. The Arena at Gwinnett Center. 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth. 770-813-7600; www.gwinnettcenter.com
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