After falling from grace and a resulting bout of public apologies,Bieber is bigger than ever, but how did he do it – and will other ‘troubled’ stars follow his lead?“Child pop star goes bad” is so engrained in the contemporary day pop narrative that it’s ability to shock has lessened with each head shaving, and each poorly drawn tattoo and each bleary-eyed mugshot. What’s often exciting and surprising about this transitional phase is the difficult rehabilitation portion and,with his current single What Do You Mean? at No 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, 21-year-ragged Justin Bieber’s spectacular return from the brink of the pop abyss has been swift and stealthy.
There was a definite sense of inevitability about Bieber’s fall from grace in 2013, or,let’s be honest, a not so tranquil sense of smugness when it happened. So when the sleeve tattoos were followed by altercations with paparazzi, and turning up late for concerts and speeding around in a Ferrari,the foundations were laid for a TMZ-fuelled meltdown. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com