Bieber, the new Spears

Justin  Bieber is the new Britney spears

Hear me out.

I’m speaking from a purely entertainment industry perspective here. Yes, Bieber looks like a 12 year old girl on his best day. Yes Britney is crazy. All that is from their personal lives, and yes that makes them different people. But what I’m talking about is the way that these two music artists have bent the music industry around them and how they will continue to be successful regardless of what the celebrity tabloids make of their lives.

Let’s take a look at Britney Spears’ career. She started out as an innocent pop teen idol much like her Bieber counterpart. She was a great talent as a singer but even more profitable as an icon for her blonde girl good looks and southern charm. She gains an abhorrent amount of popularity from the music industry’s biggest market: teenagers, and as she grows and matures both physically and in music content, so do her fans. By the time Britney Spears reaches her twenties, she is an established music mega-star but not because of her voice (which many people forget is pretty decent). She makes it big because of her image. Britney becomes a platform from which other songwriters, music producers, and choreographers can apply their creative genius. The result is a long and ongoing music career that will continue to evolve with her fans but not by her own merit and sound. Britney Spears makes top-selling albums because the best producers in the industry make her records. Her label buys lyrics from professional song writers to either supplement or completely replace Spears’ ideas and lyrics. And her live shows employ the best and brightest in the entertainment industry to keep fans coming back for more. Britney Spears is a very successful music shell from which the music industry can make millions with.

The Bieber phenomenon has evolved in much of the same way. An innocent but talented teen idol emerges and makes a huge dent in the teenage market for the industry. Once his fans are solidified from a few hit singles, Bieber’s image takes over and he can freely evolve his sound. As long as he keeps his good looks, his fans won’t stray. They come for the voice, they stay for the poster. He employs top notch producers like Mike Posner and adapts their sounds, even making dubstep breaks and creating hit house records as well as R&B singles in much the same way that Britney Spears began to do in her Circus and blackout albums. He puts on a great live show with the help of creative minds and choreographers and he has enough talent to pull it all off without a hiccup, just like Spears.

Bieber has now reached a point where anybody and everybody will want to work with him to evolve him into the next popular form in order to keep the money rolling. The question now is whether or not Bieber will stand with his own creativity and attempt to make his own unique evolutions without the music industry’s input. My guess is that he will continue to follow in Spears’ footsteps and enjoy the good life over his own personal artistry.

But I’ve been wrong before.

Either way, as an avid music lover, I’ll be well entertained. It might take some time for me to get over the Bieber-mania (my hetero-masculine stubbornness will see to that), but eventually I’ll become a fan too. Briney Spears will always be my chick though.

Bieber’s Latest (he needs a new lyricist like I need a haircut right now):