Hello, I'm Laura Ingraham, and today, I'm going to be continuing my discography review of Justin Bieber. Now, I said in my first review in this series that I'm a Justin Bieber apologist. That is still true, but those of you who read that first review I did of his debut EP My World may not have gotten that impression. After all, didn't I give that EP 55% and call One Time "dumb as hell" among other things?
Yes, I did, but I also admitted to liking a couple songs from that EP, and his debut full-length, titled My World 2.0, has even more songs I like. It's still not good enough for me to own it on vinyl, we'll get to those projects later, but it's an okay album. So, what did I find on My World 2.0?
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Well, let's start by addressing the elephant in the room which is the song Baby. This song got so much hate from people back in 2010, and while I understand why, even back then I never hated this song. There are a few reasons for that, but the main one is that while young Justin Bieber had many flaws as a performer, he was always good at selling desperation, mostly due to his high-pitched and surprisingly emotive voice. It also helps that the melody is catchy and the instrumentation is surprisingly well-produced. This song may not be the most amazing song ever, but it is pretty good teen idol fodder.
Going back to Justin being able to sell desperation well, that pretty much makes this album for me. On the My World EP, he was trying to sell himself as a smooth man of romance, which wasn't convincing at all. Here, he's way more convincing as a performer overall. Songs like Stuck in the Moment and the closing track That Should Be Me are great examples of this.
With Stuck in the Moment, we've got Justin being in love with a girl even as the world is telling him and her that it isn't meant to be. However, unlike some songs in this lane where the guy sweeps the girl off her feet and it ends up working, Justin actually sounds uncertain. This gives the song more stakes, and also makes for pretty good teen idol fodder. It's also, once again, surprisingly well-produced, as is the rest of this album, with one exception that we'll get to.
As for That Should Be Me, this is the kind of song I should hate, but I can't bring myself to, mostly because of the framing. In this song, Justin talks about a girl that he hurt who said that she needed time away from him, but she instead finds another guy and Justin is especially butthurt. If Justin was a bit older and had a more grown-up voice, I'd probably hate this, but as it is, I'm just impressed that he got me to like a song with this concept at all.
My favorite song on here is definitely Overboard. This is a deep cut that should have been a single. It sounds gorgeous, the guest artist Jessica Jarrell and Justin both do a great job, and the lyrics are surprisingly complex. The song starts out with Jessica talking about how she needs Justin, but he's been ignoring her. Then Justin comes in and talks about how he needs her, but she's not putting enough effort into the relationship. It may seem convoluted, but relationship drama often is, with lots of complicated feelings and gray areas about who's actually at fault. It's very realistic, and I really wish this could've been a hit instead of...Certain other songs that I'll talk about in a minute.
That said, there are a few songs where Justin continues with the smooth lover boy schtick, and surprisingly, they're not all bad. U Smile is goofy as hell, but the instrumentation is gorgeous, and it definitely makes me smile (okay, I'll see myself out). Somebody to Love and Up aren't great, but they're tolerable teen idol fodder.
However, this album isn't all positive, and now we have to get to the negatives. Of the songs on here that I don't like, Never Let You Go is just plain boring and sounds like a contemporary Christian song, and the other two suck.
Let's start with Runaway Love, the less painful of the two. This song sounds fine musically, and I'll admit that I enjoyed it upon first listen. Then I looked at the lyrics and realized how eerily possessive and creepy they are. Basically, Justin doesn't like his girl going out and doing things because she might fall in love with some other guy. Seriously, Justin, you sound like Edward from Twilight.
And now we get to the terrible song, that being Eenie Meenie. This song is one of the worst I've ever heard. Musically, it sounds alright at first, but then you notice the way the effects all pile up on top of each other, and the headache immediately starts to set in. However, the main culprit when it comes to this song's awfulness is the lyrics. First of all, the phrase "Eenie Meenie Miney Mo Lover" is fucking stupid. Second, it doesn't even make sense. Justin and Sean Kingston go on and on about how this girl is indecisive, but if you read the lyrics, it's pretty clear that she doesn't want either of these two. Also, eenie meenie miney mo gives you a pretty concrete answer, so it makes even less sense. Then there's the rap bridge, which, aside from sounding awful, has lines about restraining women by their feet and not letting them go until they scream. Ew.
Despite that abomination, this album is actually way better than the My World EP. Still not great, but I wouldn't mind sitting through this one again. I give it 65%, and if you're a Justin Bieber fan, check this out if you haven't. If not, this won't change your mind, but at least check out the song Overboard. That song is fantastic. Also, stick around for my later Justin Bieber reviews where I'll recommend some projects from him that might change your mind. They should be up soon.
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