Last week was my birthday: I turned twenty five years old. As a gift, my friend Grant and his significant other, Tori, gave me a copy of My World 2.0 by Justin Bieber with an attached note requesting a review (by the way: for those of you thinking about submitting a record for review, this is proof that we will review just about anything that is given to us for free).

As you may have deduced, Justin Bieber is not an artist that I would generally address on Folkways Magazine; that is not to say that he is completely off of my radar. I have spent the majority of the last six years working with children in some capacity and each of those years has been marked by the presence of a packaged pop presence waiting to be digested by the vacillating tastes of young fans. I have survived entire summers beleaguered by the anonymous, recurring melodies of Jesse McCartney, Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and the cast of High School Musical. Honestly, it is not as difficult to tolerate as you might imagine because the songs are generally so innocuous that they leave your head moments after they end. Justin Bieber’s album is no different: there is nothing wrong with it but I find it to be fairly forgettable.

When a start-to-finish listen of My World 2.0 failed to provide me with a critical reaction, I decided to seek out the criticism of others and see if there was something I should be listening for. Frankly, I was shocked and disgusted by what I found: angry rants addressing the death of musical integrity and decrying the supposed glitch of his popularity. It seems to me that these voices are giving this ‘musical’ endeavor much more weight than it deserves. Love it or hate it, his music has little function other than to temporarily entertain young people and perhaps hold a spot in a future VH1 “Where Are They Now” style countdown show. Even the children who follow these interchangeable pop stars know that their presence is temporary. Suffice it to say, using his popularity as a means of analyzing the state of modern music is completely futile. For the vast majority of the time that there has been a music industry, it has always been best to keep your ear to the ground. I would arbitrarily estimate that 90% of all popular music has ALWAYS been style over substance and in my mind this is a terribly missed opportunity.

Having grown up during the 90’s and seen the rise of a radio dominated by boy bands first hand, it has always occurred to me that the majority of the people purchasing their records had little interest in music. The albums would be successful regardless of the sounds they contained because the image of the artists in question was engaging enough to drive sales. It is for this reason specifically that it is such a disappointment that the music these groups choose to champion is always of such an inoffensive and bland nature: with a little bit of effort, they could broaden the musical horizons of their fans. I suppose what I am trying to express is that there is nothing wrong with entertaining children but why not use this platform to enlighten them as well?

Justin Bieber has neither destroyed nor saved popular music. It is doubtful that he has made any mark at all beyond the overstated blip which is currently all too visible. What he has made is a listenable yet utterly unremarkable album which will forever be tied to the childhood of his countless young fans. I suppose it could be a nostalgic prom selection in 2017 or so: it definitely could be worse. As for me, I will continue to hope against hope that some rich music connoisseur decides to manufacture a teen pop star who performs boundary pushing, experimental pop music which can help to shape the musical appreciation of a future generation. Here’s to holding my breath.