Last week, we spent a lot of time talking about Selena Gomez. After a lengthy break from music, she released two new songs, and there was a lot to talk about. Both of the singles are definitely about Justin Bieber, and Hailey and Selena made some shady social media posts that definitely seemed like they were directed at each other. But now that the dust has settled around Selena’s big comeback, it’s Justin Bieber’s turn to cough up some new music. He’s definitely been working on something recently, and this week, he’s started posting clues on his Instagram.
Last night, I opened up Instagram, prepared to scroll through about 100 Halloween costumes and probably a few pumpkin patch pictures. While there were plenty of Halloween costumes on my feed, I stopped scrolling when I saw this post from Justin Bieber, which I didn’t even think was real at first.
So after I realized that this is, in fact, a real post from Justin Bieber’s real account, I was still just as confused. Is…is Justin Bieber bribing us? Is this some elaborate scheme to tease us about his new album? Why the f*ck did he post this atrocious Insta story screenshot with a fuchsia background? Is he this desperate for likes? Does he realize that social media likes shouldn’t be the basis for your self-esteem? Is Justin okay??
Obviously, I had many questions, and I still do. But his caption at least helped clear it up a little bit. Justin says that he’s “almost Donne, but your support will make men one faster.” So he’s not like, holding a finished album hostage until we like the photo, but he’s basically saying that he needs Instagram likes as motivation to get sh*t done. Should I try this? Hey @ my boss, I’m not gonna finish this article until my latest Instagram post gets 50,000 likes.
Wait for it…
Okay, I’m back. Sadly I did not get 50,000 likes, but I was informed that this isn’t how an actual job works. Seems unfair, but I have to pay rent this week, so here we are. Justin’s plea for likes might feel kind of desperate and thirsty, but he’s also posted some other stuff that seems to be more subtly alluding to new music.
Also on Sunday night, Justin posted another ugly-ass Insta story screenshot that just says “R&BIEBER.” This is most likely a hint about the direction that his new music will take, and at this point, I’m ready for anything that he decides to throw our way. While I love his pop and EDM stuff (“Sorry” still slaps), his more chilled out music is also great. HisĀ JournalsĀ project from 2013 is pretty much completely R&B, and I personally think it’s his most underrated music. If we’re entering a new ~R&BIEBER~ era, I’m all for it.
While these two posts are pretty explicitly about new music, the next two are much more cryptic. In the past few days, Justin has posted two different photos of doodles of the word “yummy” in big bubble letters, and people have started speculating that this also has something to do with whatever he’s about to release.
While the actual photos really aren’t anything special, Justin Bieber clearly has “yummy” on the brain these days. It has to mean something!! Also, both of these posts have captions that definitely sound like they could be song lyrics. I can’t wait to hear Justin sing the words “Bonafide stallion,” because I’m going crazy imagining what these songs will sound like.
Of course, there’s also a chance that Justin could just be doodling about nothing, and the captions are just random words in his brain. I remember in third grade how I would get one random word in my mind and just draw it like 500 times, and sometimes I think Justin Bieber has the brain of a third grader. Sorry, that was mean.
Whether “yummy” means anything or not, it finally seems like Justin Bieber is getting serious about releasing new music, which is great, because I can only listen toĀ PurposeĀ so many times. Just kidding, there is no limit to the amount of times I can listen toĀ Purpose.Ā That was stupid of me to even say. Regardless, I’m hoping that Christmas will come early in the form of a J-Biebs album, so everyone please go like that photo. Right now, Justin only has 7.2 million likes, so I’m starting to get nervous.
Images: Shutterstock; justinbieber (4) / Instagram
Justin Bieber has been in the public eye for a decade now, and it’s been nothing if not a roller coaster. He’s one of the world’s biggest stars, but he’s also made some questionable decisions and pissed a lot of people off. While he once came across as an arrogant asshole with little regard for rules, he’s spent the last couple of years trying to get his sh*t together. He’s been open about his struggles, and his Instagram post from Monday night gives new perspective to everything he’s gone through.
Justin Bieber is no stranger to lengthy text posts on social media. Two years ago, he canceled the end of hisĀ PurposeĀ World Tour with a message about his battle with depression and exhaustion, and earlier this year he responded to questions about his next album by saying that he was “focused on repairing some deep rooted issues.” Justin stays private most of the time, but he’s repeatedly turned to Instagram to get things off his chest (like all of us). His latest post is probably his biggest personal update yet.
So first of all, I feel like this is one of the few times when splitting up a Notes app post into multiple slides would have been warranted. Thank god Instagram lets you zoom in, or else this would actually be impossible to read. It’s a lot of text to get through, but Justin Bieber’s message here is actually…kind of great? I won’t go line by line because I have other responsibilities that I need to get to, but let’s go through some of the most important parts.
He begins the message by writing about the endless cycle of depressionāsomething that lots of people can understand. He speaks about “feeling disappointment after disappointment” and being unable to change his mindset, despite having money and lots of accomplishments under his belt. Justin ties this back to the “insane pressure and responsibility” that comes with being a child star.
Throughout the statement, Justin seems to have more self-awareness than he’s shown in the past. He acknowledges that constantly hearing how great he was as a teenager messed up his mindset about life. He says, “Everyone did everything for me so I never even learned the fundamentals of responsibility.” Considering that I’m not rich or famous, and I still call my mom every time I need to do any real adult task, I can totally sympathize with Justin.
In addition to his own issues, he speaks about the mental process of performing. Being on stage is apparently one of the biggest dopamine rushes you can get, which often leads to performers being depressed when they’re not in front of a crowd. Obviously, this is tough for anyone to navigate, but especially for someone so young, it’s hard to imagine not being messed up after years of touring.
For the first time, he really opens up about the period of time when he started rebelling against his perfect child star image. He owns up to his use of “pretty heavy drugs,” and his behavior that was “resentful and disrespectful to women.” No one is perfect, and this admission is better late than never. Justin has spoken in the past about how much marriage has changed his life, and he reiterates that message here. He calls marriage “the best season of my life,” and calls it “an amazing crazy new responsibility.” As opposed to before, when he didn’t do anything for himself, it sounds like now he’s dedicated to putting in the work to be who he wants to be.
The fact that Justin Bieber is finally in a place where he can open up about the rocky journey of his life seems like a promising sign for the future. Whether that means he’ll make new music or try to leave public life behind, he’s obviously done a lot of work to get to this point. Selfishly, I hope he announces a new album any minute now, but I understand if that’s not what’s best for him right now. Overall, it seems like he’s going to be okay, and that’s what matters.
Images: justinbieber / Instagram
