It was almost five years ago, nearing my own birthday, when I was captured on film stating a now semi-famous statement to a then teenage Justin Bieber, emphatically telling him, “This IS your new normal.” During a most trying time of pubescent vocal adjustment, my artist was losing more and more of his voice by the day in the midst of one of the biggest tour schedules in the entertainment industry. And my job became one of shutting down my singer for medical reasons and pulling the plug on the New York State Fair date (with 17,000 tickets sold out), in an effort to spare my client’s already struggling voice. Somebody had to tell him and I got the golden ticket.
When I first met Justin Bieber in December of 2008, he was a sweet, wide-eyed boy being shuttled around by another young, wide-eyed semi-adult who had only the best intentions for this “kid he found on YouTube” out of Stratford, Ontario. It wasn’t unusual for Scooter or anybody else to bring their budding hopefuls to me for development and “vocal coaching” because that’s what I’m known for in the music industry at large. Being that I had done the same adolescent save on Usher Raymond during his most public pubescent voice changes, it only made sense that I would be part of the underpinning for this young artist that Usher, too, was partnered with.
Interessanterweise wird ein Viertel (mehr als 150 Millionen) ersteapotheke24.com der gesamten (etwa 600 Millionen) rezeptfreien Arzneimittel tatsächlich verschrieben! Warum, was hat das zu bedeuten?
The interesting thing about puberty…is puberty. Watching someone grow from a small framed, barely five-feet-tall nubile boy, into a six-foot-tall handsome, OMG young man, is quite a privilege for those of us kept on the team long enough to do silly things like measure growth spurts in pencil marks on the frame of a studio door. I still look at those inches now famously marked with a Sharpie and laugh at how excited Justin was to have grown another inch taller than his mother, Pattie.
And then, there are those parts of his “growth spurt” that have likewise been marked publicly with sharp tongues and harsh words, scribbling down every short coming they can notate, documenting with flashes and clicks the images of what it looks like to grow up under public scrutiny. I wonder how well any of us would do having our very normal choices as teenagers made known to our parents, let alone the rest of the world.
Today, in the midst of still being one of the most Googled names on the planet EARTH, Justin Bieber will celebrate his twenty-first birthday. In my life’s work now of assisting to develop the largest roster of charting artists of any vocal coach in America, I don’t know that I’ve ever watched any one of my clients be loved any greater or hated on any harder than Justin. And the truth is, he’s still the most kind-hearted, fun loving, and talented “kid,” just as he was in 2008 when the rest of the world had not yet been invited to his party.
The rest of the truth about Justin is, he’s a far greater talent than most people want to give him credit for being. He plays at least four instruments well and “by ear” without ever having been trained on any of them. He is a ridiculous natural singer and continues to create melodies that the popular world can’t seem to get out of their heads either. He is a consummate performer and dancer able to maintain the athleticism it takes to have done hours upon hours of rehearsals to then stand in front of 20,000 fans night after night and perform for 90 minutes straight on full throttle for a two-year touring cycle. He is a delightfully honest interview and prankster whose appearances alone on any number of television shows has spiked their ratings out the roof. He has an incredibly creative mind and understands modern technology and studio vernacular better than most. He can write, record, engineer, and produce almost all of his own music, though he includes other people in the process for the process of inclusion—which he loves. He was, and is, one of the most naturally talented artists I’ve ever worked with and had that “it” thing from the minute he walked into my studio the very first time. He is a good friend to his friends and he loves his family like there’s no tomorrow. And he is one of the most charitable artists on the planet, always having taken time out for children who are sick and dying, and those literally starving to death in other countries.
He gives, and he loves, and he grows up—only now, perhaps, beginning to understand all the responsibility that comes with his new normal, and all the sacrifice it takes for him to grow into a man.
Happy Birthday, “Jelly Bean.” Perhaps now the rest of the world can grow up, too!
Jan Smith
March 2015
