"
Baby", the
lead single from
the second half of his debut album, which features
Ludacris, was released in January 2010 and became his biggest hit thus far, charting at number five in the U.S. and reaching the top ten in seven other countries.
Two digital singles, "
Never Let You Go", and "
U Smile" were top thirty hits on the U.S. Hot 100, and top twenty hits in Canada.
According to review aggregator
Metacritic, the album has received "generally favorable reviews".
It debuted at number one on the U.S.
Billboard 200, making Bieber the youngest solo male act to top the chart since
Stevie Wonder in 1963
. My World 2.0 also debuted at number one on the
Canadian Albums Chart,
Irish Albums Chart, and
Australian Albums Chart, and the
New Zealand Albums Chart and reached the top ten of fifteen other countries.
To promote the album, Bieber appeared on several live programs including
The View, the 2010
Kids Choice Awards,
Nightline,
The Late Show with David Letterman,
The Dome and
106 and Park.
On April 10, 2010, Bieber was the musical guest on
Saturday Night Live.
On July 4, 2010, Bieber performed at the
Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular in
New York City.
The second single from
My World 2.0, "
Somebody to Love", was released in April 2010, and a remix was released featuring Bieber's mentor
Usher. In June 2010, it reached 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
On June 23, 2010, Bieber went on his first official headlining tour, starting in
Hartford, Connecticut, to promote
My World and
My World 2.0.
In July 2010, it was reported that Bieber was the most searched for celebrity on the Internet.
That same month his music video, "
Baby", surpassed
Lady Gaga's "
Bad Romance" to become the most viewed
YouTube video ever.
In September 2010, it was reported that Bieber accounted for three percent of all traffic on Twitter, according to an employee of the social-networking site.
Bieber began recording his second album in July 2010 in
New York City.
At this point, because of
puberty, his voice was deeper than it was when he recorded his first album. In April 2010, the singer discussing his vocals remarked, "It cracks. Like every teenage boy, I'm dealing with it and I have the best vocal coach in the world. [...] Some of the notes I hit on "Baby" I can't hit anymore. We have to lower the key when I sing live.
British singer/songwriter
Taio Cruz confirmed in July 2010 that he is writing songs for Bieber's next album.
Hip hop producer Dr. Dre produced two songs with Bieber in July 2010
but it is unknown if they were made for the album, which is currently due for a 2011 release.
Bieber guest-starred in the season premiere of the
CBS crime drama
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, aired on September 23, 2010. He played a "troubled teen who is faced with a difficult decision regarding his only brother." Bieber will continue to appear in later episodes of the season as his character's story progresses.
Bieber will also star in a 3-D film about himself directed by
Step Up 3D director
Jon Chu and scheduled for a February 2011 release.
Bieber performed a medley of "
U Smile", "
Baby," and "
Somebody to Love" and briefly played the drums at the
2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.
Bieber announced in October 2010 that he would release an acoustic album, called
My Worlds Acoustic.
It was released on
Black Friday in the United States and featured acoustic versions of songs from his previous albums, and accompanied the release of a completely new song titled "Pray".
Image
On 2nd January 2011,
The Observer newspaper in the UK published a report
] indicating that Justin Bieber is more influential in the social networking sphere than Barack Obama or The Dalai Lama. According to Jan Hoffman of
The New York Times, part of Bieber's appeal stems from his YouTube channel. Long before he released his EP,
My World, in mid-November, the YouTube videos attracted millions of views."
[12] Braun recognized the appeal. Prior to flying him to Atlanta, Braun wanted to "build him up more on YouTube first" and had Bieber record more home videos for the channel. "I said: 'Justin, sing like there’s no one in the room. But let's not use expensive cameras.' We'll give it to kids, let them do the work, so that they feel like it's theirs," recalled Braun. Bieber continues to upload videos to the same channel and has opened a
Twitter account, from which he interacts with fans regularly; his account was reported in November 2010 to have over 6 million followers. The accounts also serve marketing purposes; for example, Bieber's music video for "One Time" only began selling quickly after it was uploaded to YouTube.
| Justin Bieber |
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Usher comments that while he and Bieber were both signed at the same age, "I had the chance to ramp up my success, where this has happened to Bieber abruptly." As a result, Usher, Braun, Bieber's bodyguard Kenny, and other adults surrounding Bieber constantly coach him on handling fame and his public image.
After signing Bieber, Usher appointed one of his former assistants, Ryan Good, to be Bieber's road manager and stylist. Good, once nicknamed Bieber's "swagger coach", created a "streetwise look" for the singer which consisted of baseball caps, hoodies, dog chains and flashy sneakers. Amy Kaufman of
The Los Angeles Times comments, "Though a product of a middle-class suburban upbringing in Stratford, Ontario, Bieber's manner of dress and speech ("Wassup man, how you doin'?" or "It's like, you know, whateva' ") suggest he's mimicking his favorite rappers."
Bieber is often featured in
teen magazines such as
Tiger Beat, an
d has been labeled a "teen hearthrob".
Crowd control problems
Bieber performing in front of a crowd in September 2009
Bieber's popularity has caused safety concerns. While promoting
My World, Bieber was scheduled to appear at
Long Island's
Roosevelt Field Mall, but the performance had to be cancelled. The event got out of control, and over 35 units from the
Nassau County and
Garden City police departments had to be called in. Several fans received minor injuries. The police arrested an Island Records senior vice-president, James A. Roppo, reportedly for hindering the police's crowd control efforts by not sending a timely message on Twitter as instructed by the police.
James Roppo pleaded not guilty to all charges.
On March 24, 2010, Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, was arrested on one count of second-degree reckless endangerment and one count of second-degree criminal nuisance related to the incident. Braun pleaded not guilty to both charges and was later released.
On April 26, 2010, a scheduled promotional performance was cancelled by Australian police after several girls were injured in a
crowd crush. Bieber was scheduled to sing three songs for the Channel Seven program,
Sunrise. In a
Twitter message after the incident, Bieber said: "I want to make this clear... I don't cancel." Bieber's
tweet continued, stating: "I woke up this morning to the police canceling the show for safety reasons. I'm very happy about the welcome and the love from around the world, but I want everyone to still remember my fans' safety comes first. At the end of the day I want you all to enjoy the music."
Target for critics, pranksters, and parodies
Bieber has often been criticized for looking and sounding younger than his age and his
effeminacy, teen pop music, image, and frequent media attention.
He has been a frequent target for internet bloggers and message board posters—notably by users of internet message board
4chan, users of
YouTube,
and various
Facebook groups. Pranks have included a successful campaign to push "Justin Bieber Syphilis" to the top of the
Google Trends Hot Searches list; hacked YouTube videos that were altered so as to redirect users to adult websites or trigger pop-up messages saying that Bieber had been killed in a
car accident; his
Last.fm photograph being changed to
pornographic images; various rumors circulated, from rumors that Bieber had died, joined a cult, or even that his mother was offered $50,000 to pose topless in
Playboy magazine—none of which were true.
This all forced the affected companies to update their security protocols to reverse the damage, and Bieber himself
tweeted to fans reassuring them that he was still living and that false rumors about his mother "just grossed and weirded [him] out."
Most notable was the campaign to send Bieber to
North Korea as part of his world tour (entitled
My World Tour).
This was carried out in part by 4chan,
digg, and
reddit users voting for the country on the tour's website, for the free competition to nominate a bonus country for the tour—the second-placed country being
Israel, which presumably was voted for by Israelis genuinely wishing to attend the concert.
It is highly unlikely that Bieber would actually have been given permission by the North Korean government, or concert organizers and management, to enter the country.
Universal Music Group has denied any involvement in a poll that became the target of an online prank. A spokesperson for UMG told
BBC News that it was a "hoax" but declined to give any further comment.
Nick Collins of
The Daily Telegraph speculated that "Bieber's character also appears to strike a particularly sour note with his Internet critics, with many remarks commenting on his youthful appearance, his teen-pop songs, his image as a heart-throb to young teenage girls and his manner of speech"
