It is ungrateful to comment an event you did not attend, no matter how much you wanted or not to be there. Having that in mind, I will stay true to what I just said and state just a few facts about last night's concert of Justin Bieber in Zagreb. The fact is that Justin Bieber's concert in Zagreb was sold out four months before the concert (18,000 Beliebers and other music lovers crammed into Arena Zagreb sport hall). Fact is that the tickets for this concert were sold in 26 countries from all over the world and that some of Justin's fans have been camping the whole cold day on November 9, 2016 in front of Arena Zagreb. Fact also is that Arena Zagreb was on fire the whole evening and that Justin promised to come back. (Dnevnik.hr)
I am not a Justin Bieber fan, I am not a Belieber. However, I do have regrets for not being on his concert in my hometown. But submitting myself to screaming and tears of thousands of crazed teenage girls for a couple of hours was too big a challenge and too frightening an experience for me. Being twice and a little more of Justin's age, I just I wasn't ready to go through such ordeal.
You may say and think what you want about Justin Bieber. You can love him or you can hate him (I do not now why, but many people do that). You can call him names, say that he is just a spoiled teenage star who did both good and irresponsible things for animals, you can call him a prince of pop who loves his Beliebers and be angry with him because he didn't want to sign you an autograph or say a word to you after you waited for hours just to see him or touch him. But whether you have a reason to worship him or roll your eyes and mockingly laugh at the very mention of his name, no one can deny him a few things.
Justin Bieber is a multitalented musician and a young man who grew up in front of the cameras with very little or no time for privacy. Those who followed his progress as a musician and a singer, who watched him closely grow from a little boy to a young adult man were able to see all his moods, all his good moments of happiness and all his faults, outbursts and frustrations. Oftentimes we forget to remind ourselves that behind the image and a status of a megastar Justin Bieber is also a human being, though a human being who, unlike us, is living his – and maybe even our – dreams, making big money in the process and bathing in the planetary popularity because eyes of the cameras and the world are always upon him.
None of this came by chance, though, none of it is undeserved. A hard work combined with youthful energy, plenty of talent and a carefully selected team of professionals who knew how to make the best use out of what has been offered to them are responsible for Justin Bieber we are seeing and listening today.
I have to be honest and admit that until the last year I did not pay much attention to Justin. I barely acknowledged him, let alone listened to and remembered any of his teenage songs. Then Purpose happened and things changed. First I listened to the free samples of his 13 new songs on Amazon, listened to them again on YouTube and made up my mind – I had to have this album.
Purpose is one of the best albums I've been listening to over and over again in the years 2015 and 2016, with memorable, easy to listen to, memorize, catchy and even motivational songs, with a real potential for each of them to become a hit, which eventually happened. Masterfully produced until perfection, the album Purpose and the album tracks and videos from the project “Purpose: The Movement” set Justin on the throne of many international charts. To me, Purpose was the top of a music production. This was the moment when I started to see and experience Justin with my own eyes and senses, not paying attention to skeptics and ironists who couldn't stop mocking, ridiculing and disdaining him.
Yes, Justin Bieber might be a product of master-minds of music industry; he might be their golden calf who feeds and employs many, but Bieber's planetary stardom didn't happen accidentally. Even if he was lucky enough to become a shining star to the millions of his fans of all colors and nationalities, it wouldn't have happened without his personal engagement and unquestionable talent. This is something we, in all our honesty, shouldn't and cannot deny him.
Whoever the real Justin Bieber is, if there is another Justin Bieber behind the spotlight and media craziness, we might never find out. But Justin Bieber we know and listen to is now a young man in his early twenties with more than just a talent for singing and performing. He is the young guy with ambition and mission to succeed in conquering and ruling the musical world, a pop megastar with the purpose.
It is his moment in time, so why don't we let him enjoy it as we are trying to find our own purpose in life while maybe listening to one or more of his songs to lift our spirit or maybe urge us to dance? It isn't so bad, really. It comes from the mouth of someone who is still not a Justin Bieber fan but who appreciates and recognizes the natural talent, hard work and, equally importantly, good music.
BJ