Wait, wait, come back!!! It's not contagious, and we don't have a documented full blown case of it in our house, although there has been some possible exposure. You're pretty safe, I think. It's all good.
My girls are not really into his music, so my familiarity had been limited. I saw him on The View flirting with Barbara Walters, so my first impression was that he was a sycophantic little jackass with a silly haircut.
A couple weeks ago, while enjoying a nice frosty drink at Sonic and listening to Sonic radio, One Less Lonely Girl came over the airwaves. My eldest groaned and covered her ears.
"Make it stop!"
"Who is this?"
"Justin Bieber. He SUCKS!"
"Don't say that, he does not." This declaration came, very surprisingly, from our youngest - whose tastes tend to run even harder stronger and faster than Tom's and mine.
"Do you LIKE him?"
"I don't know. Probably not. Maybe. I don't know. But I do know that he makes some of my friends very happy. And anything that makes my friends happy can't suck. Even if I don't like it myself."
"You like Justin Bieber!" my eldest sang, tauntingly.
"I'm a twelve year old girl! I'm supposed to!"
"Do you want his CD?" continued the taunting song, "because you LO-O-OVE him?"
"NO!" a pause, "maybe..."
That Sunday morning we didn't fast forward through his stint as musical guest on SNL when he appeared with Tina Fey. It wasn't my cup of tea, but I'm not exactly his target demographic. He was in a couple sketches. He was tolerable. Cute, even. He looked - safe. He looked like every shaggy haired boy with dreamy eyes I idolized in my own youth. I got it.
But more than that - and possibly the reason I was able to step back and get it - was that my daughter's words rang true: Anything that makes my friends that happy can't suck.
I remember being very happy in the mid-nineties when boy bands made a comeback. I was well into adulthood at the time, so - again - it wasn't my cup of tea - but it was so nice to glance at the covers of '16' and Tiger Beat on the news stands and see these cute, young, safe boys. The eighties saw bands like Van Halen, KISS and Motley Crue gracing their covers. Now I liked me some DLR in the eighties. Oh yes I did. The following is from a story about my first apartment that I posted at Portable Magic:
Little girls shouldn't be reading Tiger Beat and '16' for that sort of distraction. I just read Nikki Sixx's autobiographical The Heroin Diaries. Little girls DEFINITELY shouldn't have been looking for THAT sort of distraction. Nope. As a twenty-something, Van Halen and the Crue were perfectly acceptable fantasy fodder. Early teens needed 'N Sync. They needed NKOTB.
They need Justin Bieber.
Rock on with your not-so-bad-little self, Justin.
If you make scores of little girls happy, I don't think you suck.
My girls are not really into his music, so my familiarity had been limited. I saw him on The View flirting with Barbara Walters, so my first impression was that he was a sycophantic little jackass with a silly haircut.
A couple weeks ago, while enjoying a nice frosty drink at Sonic and listening to Sonic radio, One Less Lonely Girl came over the airwaves. My eldest groaned and covered her ears.
"Make it stop!"
"Who is this?"
"Justin Bieber. He SUCKS!"
"Don't say that, he does not." This declaration came, very surprisingly, from our youngest - whose tastes tend to run even harder stronger and faster than Tom's and mine.
"Do you LIKE him?"
"I don't know. Probably not. Maybe. I don't know. But I do know that he makes some of my friends very happy. And anything that makes my friends happy can't suck. Even if I don't like it myself."
"You like Justin Bieber!" my eldest sang, tauntingly.
"I'm a twelve year old girl! I'm supposed to!"
"Do you want his CD?" continued the taunting song, "because you LO-O-OVE him?"
"NO!" a pause, "maybe..."
That Sunday morning we didn't fast forward through his stint as musical guest on SNL when he appeared with Tina Fey. It wasn't my cup of tea, but I'm not exactly his target demographic. He was in a couple sketches. He was tolerable. Cute, even. He looked - safe. He looked like every shaggy haired boy with dreamy eyes I idolized in my own youth. I got it.
But more than that - and possibly the reason I was able to step back and get it - was that my daughter's words rang true: Anything that makes my friends that happy can't suck.
I remember being very happy in the mid-nineties when boy bands made a comeback. I was well into adulthood at the time, so - again - it wasn't my cup of tea - but it was so nice to glance at the covers of '16' and Tiger Beat on the news stands and see these cute, young, safe boys. The eighties saw bands like Van Halen, KISS and Motley Crue gracing their covers. Now I liked me some DLR in the eighties. Oh yes I did. The following is from a story about my first apartment that I posted at Portable Magic:
We bought ourselves a poster of David Lee Roth – 1984 was when he was arguably at the height of his hotness – stepping out of a swimming pool. The poster cut off just below the hollow beneath his hip bones. We knew he probably wasn’t naked, but it was provocative enough that we were free to imagine that he was. It was – distracting, all right.
Little girls shouldn't be reading Tiger Beat and '16' for that sort of distraction. I just read Nikki Sixx's autobiographical The Heroin Diaries. Little girls DEFINITELY shouldn't have been looking for THAT sort of distraction. Nope. As a twenty-something, Van Halen and the Crue were perfectly acceptable fantasy fodder. Early teens needed 'N Sync. They needed NKOTB.
They need Justin Bieber.
Rock on with your not-so-bad-little self, Justin.
If you make scores of little girls happy, I don't think you suck.
13 comments:
cute post. I have no girls, and was already on may way to menopause when DLR was at his peak. I didn't even peek...I wouldn't know him if I saw him. It's sad. I am old.
I couldn't agree more! Whoever he is.
I saw him on AI...I was like, who's that 8 year old who thinks he's a sexpot??
Like I mentioned on Twitter recently... he's going to have a major ego problem when he grows up.
My 10 year old just adores him and while it makes my 11 yr old son gag at the thought and my husband just rolls his eyes, I fondly recall my love for the boy bands of the late 80s/early 90s. There are far worse things and boys she could be adoring!
I wholeheartedly agree!!!
I don't have kids, so I'm still not entirely clear as to who this kid is. But I love that your youngest defended it by saying that she's supposed to like him because she's 12. :)
I remember having a huge crush on Axl Rose. Ew.
I almost choked on my Tagalong (yes, I'm eating GS cookies) when I read this headline! Bieber on Tammy's blog??
Anyhow, I know what you are saying. I used to make fun of Miley Cyrus with one of my friends who has two boys and heads a metal band. But as my girls started to understand words to songs, including the swear words and all the sex stuff, I started to see the value in Miley. Plus, they just plain out LIKE her. I had to go back and tell my friend that I think these "Disney" singers (although I know they aren't all Disney, but you know what I mean) just might be good for our kids. Lord knows there is plenty of time for all of the other racy songs.
Amen Tammy! I always joke that when I was a teen my life aspirations were to be a rock star's girlfriend, id have taken vince, jon or even axl. all i can say is thank god for broken dreams... whew! so if the jonas bros or justin b are gracing my tween's dreams.... hallelujah..
Little girls happy is a good thing! I can't say I'm a fan but he is a cute kid.
xo
I don't know who he is, but as long as he's making girls happy...how bad can he be?
I gots a five-year-old. Please tell me this Beater kid ain't gonna grow up.
he came to nz. FOR ONE DAY. everyone here went mad. madder because they had to cancel his sydney appearance because his safety couldn't be guaranteed! personally, i'm not gonna go mad over a 16 year old who looks 12 who's so skinny, he has to hike up his jeans every 10 seconds! his songs are catchy tho...
Post a Comment