November 20, 20204 yr My reaction is... not very favourable, oop. All I can say is that I hope it'll grow on me. Justin Bieber hasn't appealed to me in ages, and the "woe is me" lyrical content is tired. Find a new subject :drama:
November 20, 20204 yr Author I’m wondering would the reaction be any less negative from some if Lonely hadn’t been released so soon before this? :thinking:
November 20, 20204 yr I expected a lot better from this. This era's really not doing much for me so far, hopefully something will kick into gear soon and click with me. I've tried to force myself to like Wonder and I've still not got there and I don't expect this to be any different.
November 20, 20204 yr Production is nice but Justin's verse makes it almost unlistenable for me :drama:
November 20, 20204 yr Author I don’t understand why Justin has recently resorted to self-pity and blame the public for the things that HE did. The public already were very forgiving. I do find comments like this, and others such as 'can't deal with the "woe is me" lyrics', interesting. I think, more than anything, the lyrics aren't really 'woe is me' at all; the song was written three years ago by Shawn and his co-writers, so obviously Justin will have had to write a verse that tells his story and at the same time fits with the song's concept. It seems more of a swipe at people who still, even today, can't seem to find it in themselves to conclude that a lot of what Justin's done in his past is... exactly that. He was a teenager with so much opportunity before him, probably given everything he could ever imagine, and he made mistakes along the way. He's accepted responsibility and held himself accountable for everything he's done (Lonely lyrics, Monster lyrics), moved on, but the public haven't and are still so caught up on holding it against him like they're the holy ones when really all it does is shine a light on the fact that the public are the monster in this situation and any others like it. If we take a look at any other artist with a discography including songs about heartbreak, trauma, sadness, and more importantly mental health, you'll find a lot of songs with a 'woe is me' attitude, but it's not a problem because they're not Justin Bieber. I don't think people realise that the way they're reacting to the song, particularly regarding Justin, is just feeding entirely into the whole concept of the song. I completely understand if people just don't like the song, but a lot of the time it seems to be just general lack of goodwill towards Justin and anything he does. Can we really keep a straight face while trying to say the public were/are 'forgiving'?
November 20, 20204 yr Songs about heartbreak are very different from "I was a bratty kid and no one likes me". People don't have time for rich entitled popstars and their problems. They want songs they can relate to and I think Justin moaning about it in his lyrics actually makes it worse, not the other way around.
November 20, 20204 yr Author Songs about heartbreak are very different from "I was a bratty kid and no one likes me". People don't have time for rich entitled popstars and their problems. They want songs they can relate to and I think Justin moaning about it in his lyrics actually makes it worse, not the other way around. I mean, the lyrics are more 'I've fucked up, my mental health isn't great, I'm lonely' (Lonely), 'I fucked up in the past, the public built me up then dragged me down' (Monster), but I wouldn't say heartbreak songs are too different. We're still listening to an artist blaming somebody else for their shortcomings in a relationship, blaming them for a relationship breaking down, etc, etc. I don't expect anybody to suddenly change their stance, but it's just interesting that people certainly do have time for other rich, entitled pop-stars and their problems because omg they're so relatable, but not Justin Bieber just doing his thing and expressing through music how his extremely turbulent teenage years shaped the person he is today.
November 20, 20204 yr I mean, the lyrics are more 'I've fucked up, my mental health isn't great, I'm lonely' (Lonely), 'I fucked up in the past, the public built me up then dragged me down' (Monster), but I wouldn't say heartbreak songs are too different. We're still listening to an artist blaming somebody else for their shortcomings in a relationship, blaming them for a relationship breaking down, etc, etc. I don't expect anybody to suddenly change their stance, but it's just interesting that people certainly do have time for other rich, entitled pop-stars and their problems because omg they're so relatable, but not Justin Bieber just doing his thing and expressing through music how his extremely turbulent teenage years shaped the person he is today. Perhaps it's because Justin isn't particularly good at articulating himself. His lyrics aren't very sophisticated and he sounds childish and whiny. Shawn on the other hand is a much better songwriter even though he's (probably) singing about similar experiences.
November 20, 20204 yr Author Perhaps it's because Justin isn't particularly good at articulating himself. His lyrics aren't very sophisticated and he sounds childish and whiny. Shawn on the other hand is a much better songwriter even though he's (probably) singing about similar experiences. Yeah I won't deny his lyricism probably isn't the best so that's a fair point. :lol: I'd be interested to hear a solo version of this from Shawn (maybe something to come on a tour if we get one?) and see how much the second verse would actually differ, if he decided to perform it in its original form.
November 20, 20204 yr I don't expect anybody to suddenly change their stance, but it's just interesting that people certainly do have time for other rich, entitled pop-stars and their problems because omg they're so relatable, but not Justin Bieber just doing his thing and expressing through music how his extremely turbulent teenage years shaped the person he is today. I think the issue is the subject matter - he's essentially complaining about how being a big popstar at a young age messed him up, whilst desperately trying to win the public over so he can be as big as he used to be. It comes across slightly hypocritical. I just don't know how much can the public relate to the struggles of being a worldwide super rich popstar compared to heartbreak, death etc. I think the Shawn lyrics and Justin lyrics are talking about the same subject, but Shawn's parts are written so much better. Shawn's verse is essentially talking about being unable to cope with fame from a young age, but in a much more classy and tasteful way. You could almost link the lyrics to the first verse and the chorus to relatable situation like relationships, work etc. whereas Justin's parts are very one dimensional and hard to warm to. I don't mind the song overall, but I do feel it would be more listenable if it was Shawn by himself.
November 21, 20204 yr Excluding the UK, this has had a very good start on Spotify. I do think it will debut top 10 this week around #8-10 though especially with it being top 10 on Apple Music and top 10 combined on iTunes.
November 21, 20204 yr Author It's a shame for Wonder because I do think it's the better song of the two :( but obviously with Justin being attached to this it was always going to do very well on streaming. Either way, yasss at it gonna be doing well :cheeseblock:
November 21, 20204 yr This isn't doing much for me unfortunately, which is a shame as I'm still loving 'Wonder'. I still have high hopes for the album though
November 21, 20204 yr It's doing quite well so far - top 10 on iTunes and higher combined, top 10 on Apple and #15 on Spotify (behind another 7 songs if you take ACR into account)
November 21, 20204 yr Agreed with what the others said and I’d also add that there’s not really been any real consequence to Justin’s past behaviour: Purpose ended up being a huge era and it was actually cool to like his music, even those who slated him had their minds changed. Then after he had a massive underperformance with Changes, he’s taken up this sympathy-seeking narrative. It seems very convenient. Don’t want to take away from anyone who does enjoy the music and I realise this is the Shawn forum, so don’t want to dwell too much on it. I just think Justin is capable of better.
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