The icky Justin Bieber song that was iconic but has aged terribly
Justin Bieber's debut album was released 15 years ago today.
Today marks the 15-year anniversary of Justin Bieber’s debut studio album My World 2.0, and while his early career was a momentous moment for the history books – it was unfortunately pretty icky in hindsight.
The year was 2009 and every pre-teen girl was sporting dream-matte-mousse-covered acne and a massive crush on Justin Bieber.
Twilight was already looking lame to some 13-year-olds and fancying Zac Efron or Jesse McCartney was out of fashion – but then came JB.
With the voice of an angel and an adorable hairstyle that transfixed a generation for a good couple of years, Bieber hit the scene.
Bieber fever was the bedrock of 2009 and 2010 and essential to many girls’ formative years.
As a teenager growing up in this time, we didn’t question his song lyrics or the way that he was sexualised by the media – but in hindsight, it’s incredibly uncomfortable.
The singer had just turned 16 when My World 2.0 was released (Picture: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)One Less Lonely Girl, one of his most popular songs in his early era defines his early career for many.
When the singer first began touring, the song was the highlight of his performances.
The teen would bring up a girl from the audience (typically a pretty 12-14-year-old who was in floods of tears after being overwhelmed by the ordeal) and serenade her on stage. The lucky girl would be given a flower crown or a bouquet of roses and sat on a stool while JB and his crew of dancers danced around her.
As a 13-year-old, this was the dream. Imagine going to a concert and being hand-picked to be serenaded by your favourite singer!?
But upon reflection, it’s really odd.
Bieber was just a teenager himself and was instructed to serenade crying fans every night of his tour, all while touching the girl’s face, staring into her eyes, and dancing around the stage – which would have been overwhelming for any child.
The singer would serenade girls on stage (Picture: Justin Bieber/YouTube)Additionally, this gimmick set the tone for Bieber’s appeal – he is a teen heartthrob and that’s how he is being sold to the masses.
And of course, this isn’t a new practice, but looking back at the type of sexualised questions Bieber was plagued with in every interview, it has to be questioned if this was a sensible way to market a child.
It was pointed out in 2014 but the late Sinead O’Connor in an interview with Magic FM: ‘The very young male artists who are practically children or look like children are also being sexualised.’
‘Justin Bieber is a great example,’ she added. ‘When he came along he was only 16 years of age.
‘Obviously, he was extraordinarily talented, so I’m not trying to negate that, but he was very much being sold on his sexuality.’
Despite it being clear what was happening even 10 years ago, fans were still rediscovering in 2023 how brutal Bieber’s early career was.
The singer began touring as a teenager (Picture Mark Von Holden/WireImage)Clips of Bieber being sexualised by adults went viral on TikTok and fans were gobsmacked by what was deemed socially acceptable at the time.
In 2020, Bieber reunited with a ‘One Less Lonely Girl’ from an old tour and reminisced about the moment in a YouTube documentary called Seasons.
While watching the footage back that showed him tilting the audience member’s face to him as he sings directly into her face, Justin commented: ‘Look at how adorable we are, we’re so young.’
And he’s right, he was so incredibly young, and looking back it feels like one of the grossest marketing ploys that just wouldn’t happen today.
Never would a 15-year-old female singer bring boys up on stage to stare into their eyes and dance around them.
It would be understood that the scenario would be sexualising a child, so why was it ok when Bieber did it?
The singer was a multimillionaire before he was 18 (Picture: Stacie McChesney/NBCU Photo Bank)To be clear audience participation is not the problem here. Following this trend in a much healthier way is the band Role Model who invite a girl on stage to be their ‘Sally’ when singing the song Sally, When The Wine Runs Out.
When the 27-year-old lead singer Tucker Harrington Pillsbury invites a girl (occasionally a man or a child has been invited) to the stage, he respectfully hugs them and then invites them to dance with him across the stage for the bridge of the song.
There’s nothing over-sexualised and the pair usually just jump around the stage until the end of the song – showing that audience participation is still possible without a seedy undertone.
But this isn’t what happened with One Less Lonely Girl. Bieber was sexualising those girls on stage, but only because he too was also being viewed through a sexual lens.
What’s possibly most alarming is the impact this has had on Bieber.
In an interview with Zane Lowe in 2020, the singer commented: ‘It was hard for me, being that young and being in the industry and not knowing where to turn, and everyone telling me they love me.’
The singer is still performing decades on (Picture: Andrew Lepley/Redferns)He added that after being over-sexualised in his formative years, he wanted to protect other artists from the same thing, specifically Billie Eilish who had her breakthrough around the same age that Bieber did.
‘I just want to protect her you know, I don’t want her to go through anything I went through, I don’t wish that on anybody.’
After a quick succession of albums in his early career – after My World 2.0 in 2010, came Under the Mistletoe (2011), Believe (2012), and Purpose (2015) – the singer hasn’t released an album in four years.
The singer has taken a step back from the spotlight, got married and had a child, and has found a different style of music.
He has become more candid with his followers on social media, revealing that he struggles with imposter syndrome and has ‘always felt unworthy.’
‘Like I was a fraud. Like when people told me I deserve something, it made me feel sneaky like, damn if they only knew my thoughts.
The singer is now married to Hailey Bieber and has a son named Jack (Picture: XNY/Star Max/GC Images)‘How judgemental I am, how selfish I really am. They wouldn’t be saying this. I say all this to say. If you feel sneaky welcome to the club. I definitely feel unequipped and unqualified most days.’
His recent comments and behaviour have caused concern among some fans, but Bieber himself has slammed the ‘exhausting narrative’ about his health, insisting he is fine.
His entire mental well-being can’t be attributed to the repercussions of one song, but the song itself is a clear example of how the pop sensation was treated in his early career and potentially sheds light on how that might impact an individual in adulthood.
The early performances of One Less Lonely Girl were a weird moment in time and while his early songs still have a special place in the hearts of many, thinking critically about the child singing the songs is uncomfortable, to say the least.
It’s painfully obvious that none of this behaviour was something a 15-year-old had control over, and that looking back on the way the industry treated a young boy is truly alarming.
Perhaps if Justin was coming to fame today, he would not be treated in the same way.
We can only hope that he’d be less sexualised and given more respect as an artist – rather than pigeonholed as a teen sex symbol and used by adults who should have known better.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
