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Justin Bieber on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine

‘I don’t think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them”

In the new issue of Rolling Stone – on stands and online in the digital archives on February 18th (subscription required) – Justin Bieber takes Rolling Stone contributing editor Vanessa Grigoriadis for a spin around Atlanta in his Range Rover. Along the way they discuss girls, politics, music, Will Ferrell movies – and sex.

“I don’t think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them,” Bieber says. When asked if he believes in abstinence until marriage, Bieber – who is reportedly dating fellow teen star Selena Gomez – seems wary: “I think you should just wait for the person you’re…in love with.”

Near the end of their time together Grigoriadis caught a glimpse of Bieber’s desktop image on his laptop: It was him and Gomez against an orange sunset. Bieber quickly closed the computer when he noticed that Grigoriadis had seen the picture.

Other highlights from the story:

– The Canadian-born Bieber never plans on becoming an American citizen. “You guys are evil,” he says with a laugh. “Canada’s the best country in the world. We go to the doctor and we don’t need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you’re broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard’s baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby’s premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home.”

– He isn’t sure what political party he’d support if he was old enough to vote. “I’m not sure about the parties,” Bieber says. “But whatever they have in Korea, that’s bad.” He does have a solid opinion on abortion. “I really don’t believe in abortion,” Bieber says. “It’s like killing a baby?” How about in cases of rape? “Um. Well, I think that’s really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”

– Bieber’s voice began to change on his last tour. He’s now working with a vocal coach, which involves doing 20 push-ups before before a session to warm up his chest. “He’s got a nice tone tone to his voice now,” says his vocal couch Jan Smith. “It’s a good texture, but it doesn’t sound like what his fans think he sounds like. He’ll get four octaves eventually. He’s still young.”

ROLLING STONE

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justinbieber-canada-2011

Justin Bieber may have walked away without any Grammys on Sunday but he still had a big night performing with his mentor Usher.

Backstage, Bieber answered some questions about his future — all while checking his phone for incoming text messages and proving that despite his megastar status, he is still only 16.

Any fans stricken with Bieber fever might want to consider scoping out real estate north of the border. Asked about rumors that he had bought a house in Los Angeles, Bieber talked about his current life in his adopted hometown of Atlanta and dropped a bombshell: he is considering a move back to Canada!

Being a good loser.
“I’m really happy for her,” Bieber said about Esperanza Spalding, whom he lost to for Best New Artist. “I had a great night. I got to perform. I performed with my mentor, which is amazing. I’m really happy for her and I hope she has a good year.”

Location, location, location.
“That is false,” he said about rumors he had purchased a home in L.A. While he is still happy in Atlanta (“I have a lot of friends [there] now”), he is thinking of returning to his homeland. “I think I might move back to Canada.”

Bieber Fever.
“I think it’s just a term my fans have made. It’s an epidemic. I’m just kidding. I’m not the one that made it up.”

Money matters.
“I have a business manager,” the teen responded when asked how he keeps track of his growing empire.

He’s more than a drummer.
“I’m just an all-around musician. I play the guitar, the drums. So music means everything. I don’t know what I would do without music.”

Where he will be in 10 years.
“I see myself still doing music and still being musical and making songs and pleasing my fans.”

PARADE

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I know some of you are split on the whole J Beebs mania, but I’ve got a confession: I’ve been a “Belieber” ever since I did this iChat (yes, an iChat—21st-century stuff for a 21st-century star) interview with him for our September issue.

Justin Bieber Glamour Magazine Photo Shoot Behind-The-Scenes


For anyone not into the teen singing sensation thang, the back-story on Justin Bieber (welcome out from under that rock!), here it is: 12-year-old boy enters a local singing competition in Toronto, boy’s mom posts clips of him on YouTube, people notice, Justin Timberlake and Usher get in a bidding war to sign him, Usher wins, Biebs takes over the world. It’s all been so exhausting that the teen megastar has to get put on voice rest—a lot. But his fingers are working—so I interviewed him by IM for ourSeptember issue.
Want a sneak peak? Read on…
GlamGrlNYC2010: So you’re on voice rest, huh? Bummer.
Justin Bieber: It’s no fun, but it’s necessary.
GlamGrlNYC2010: Hey, did you hear that Tom Brady got your haircut?
JB: I did. I was just in Massachusetts [singing at the Patriots’ stadium], so he may have been influenced. Ha. Does Gisele like it?
GlamGrlNYC2010: We’ll have to ask her! Is it true that before you were discovered, you’d never been on a plane?
JB: Not even once. It’s crazy how many I’ve been on now.
GlamGrlNYC2010: You’ve even traveled to the White House. Did you hang out with Malia while you were there?
JB: Malia and I didn’t really get a chance to hang.
GlamGrlNYC2010: Let’s talk clothes. What do you wear when you’re not working?
JB: Sperrys, basketball gear, comfortable stuff.
GlamGrlNYC2010: And who does your laundry?
JB: My mom and fluff ’n’ folds on the road.
GlamGrlNYC2010: Is your mom strict?
JB: Very. She still takes my computer away at 10:30 p.m.
GlamGrlNYC2010: Some of your fans pass out when they
see you. Did you ever think you could make a girl faint?
JB: Never!
GlamGrlNYC2010: You must be a pro at handling crying women. Got any advice for men whose girlfriends cry?
JB: Listen. Try to understand why they are crying.
GlamGrlNYC2010: One last Q: Where will you be in five years?
JB: Still living out my dreams.
And if you can’t get enough Bieber, check out Justin front ‘n center as he makes fall’s hottest pants look even cooler. (He’s in our new GlamourApp, too!)
Alright, ladies, it’s confession time: Who’s got the Bieber Fever?
GLAMOUR MAGAZINE
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One Day With Justin Bieber

Thursday afternoon, San José, California. Justin Bieber sits in a dressing room that’s usually home to the San José Sharks hockey team. But there are 23 Sharks and only one of him – a tiny boy in a huge room, empty but for a sofa, a documentary-maker pointing a camera at me (Jon M Chu, director of Step Up 3D, now making Justin Bieber Never Say Never 3D), his press man Mike, and his Xbox. He has, I notice, chosen for his Xbox avatar a small black girl wearing a plaid skirt.

One Day With Justin Bieber

Jon M Chu’s 3D camera is capturing a circumspect, anxious me. My anxiety is due to the fact that Justin – being only 16 and by far the biggest teen star in the world, probably the biggest since Michael Jackson – tends to rattle off overly polished maxims in interviews, such as these from his newly published autobiography, First Step 2 Forever: My Story:

“Every one of my fans is so special to me… It all happened because of you. I wake up knowing I have the best fans in the world… My team is my family and they all deserve their time to shine too…”

This guardedness is understandable given the millions of anti-Biebers out there, ready to pounce on any misstep, although they’re a drop in the ocean compared with the billions of Beliebers in the world, a Belieber being – according to the Urban Dictionary – “A person who loves Justin Bieber & beliebes in everything that he can do”. According to Twitter, 3% of all their traffic is Belieber-related, with servers all over the world dedicated to Justin and his fans. In July he overtook Lady Gaga as the most searched-for person on the web.

I haven’t got long alone with Justin and I’m worried that there won’t be time to burrow beneath the platitudes and find some (with any luck) fascinating darkness.

“Which funny YouTube videos have you been watching lately?” I ask him.

“There’s one called Scarlet Takes A Tumble that’s really funny,” he says. “This woman’s on a table and she’s singing and all of a sudden she stands on the edge and flips over and falls. It’s really funny.”

“What about Charlie Bit My Finger?” I ask him.

“Not really that funny,” he says. “You think Charlie Bit My Finger is funny?”

“I do,” I say.

Justin shrugs. “To Americans and Canadians it’s just funny because of their English accents.” He pauses. “There’s a video called Arab Screaming that’s really funny. It’s an Arabian guy who starts screaming. It’s just hilarious. You should see it. Go.”

I ask Justin if he ever looks at his own YouTube videos. He says while he understands the perils of Googling himself, he does sometimes read the comments. ” ‘You’re so stupid’, ‘Your song sucks’, I even get, ‘You’re gay’ for no apparent reason. What’s the point of that? But then I remember there’s so many people who like my videos who don’t even comment. When I like a video I don’t waste my time commenting. But people who hate you – they’re going to take time to hate you.”

He is somewhere in the midst of an 85-date tour. A row of buses is parked back in the loading bay. They drive in convoy through the night from city to city, carrying Justin and a vast army of grown-ups. I see them backstage: anxious-looking men wearing suits and holding clipboards, grizzled roadies. Earlier I watched Justin weave in and out of them on his Segway.

“Does all the travel make you feel lost?” I ask.

“You’re so far away,” he nods, “and you start feeling like you’re a robot. When I’m overseas the schedule is always crazy and then there’s the time change and you’re not even yourself. It’s weird.”

“Do you ever feel wistful for the days before you were famous?” I ask.

At this Justin looks as if it’s all getting too introspective. “I’m a regular person,” he says hurriedly. “I’m living my dream and I’m just enjoying every minute of it.”

It was YouTube that made him famous. His mother, Pattie, who had him when she was 18, raised him alone in the small town of Stratford, Ontario, Canada.

“My mom wasn’t the greatest person,” Justin says. “I mean, she was a good person, but she made mistakes. She drank. She probably did drugs and stuff, and she told me about it because she said she did enough bad stuff for the both of us. I don’t need to do it because she already did it. The fact is, she changed her life around because of me. When I was born she quit smoking, she quit drinking.” He pauses. “She did that all for me.”

His father, Jeremy, left home when Justin was three, although if you look hard enough on the internet you’ll find pictures of him – a tattooed bodybuilder calling himself Lord Rauhl, whose bio reads, “My life is my son. He is 9 years old and is the most talented person I know. He’s a ‘looker’ too (just like his dad)!”

And Justin turned out to indeed have unexpected talents: “I can do a Rubik’s Cube in a minute and a half,” he says.

“Whatever state it’s in?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

“Are you a genius?” I ask.

“I wouldn’t say a genius, but I can do a Rubik’s Cube,” he says. “And sudoku puzzles.”

And furthermore, he had an effortlessly cherubic singing voice. When he was 13 he started busking to try to raise enough money to visit DisneyWorld. Overwhelmed passersby filmed him and put the videos on YouTube. He entered local talent contests and his mother put those videos on, too. They were noticed, first by a manager named Scooter Braun, then by Usher and Justin Timberlake, who got into a bidding war (Usher won), and then by zillions of teenage girls, all at once, all over the world. Most stars win over countries gradually, one by one. Justin instantly became massively famous everywhere. So they pulled him out of school and he began the life he now has – home-schooled in the tour van, always on the move.

“Singers aren’t supposed to eat dairy before a show but we all know I’m a rule breaker.”

First Step 2 Forever: My Story

A few months ago, while visiting a Sydney TV show called Sunrise, Justin was being led by the floor manager to the couch. He put his hand on Justin’s back.

“Don’t ever fucking touch me again,” Justin reportedly growled at him.

“Oh, he tells us that all the time,” Justin’s sound man murmured to the startled floor manager.

A few days after the Sunrise incident, Justin was in New Zealand, being interviewed by a presenter with a strong Kiwi accent. He asked Justin if Bieber was the German word for basketball.

“German?” Justin asked.

“German,” said the interviewer. Justin looked blank-faced. “German,” said the presenter. “You know? German.”

“I don’t know what that means,” said Justin.

“Here,” said the interviewer, showing him the word German written on his card.

“I don’t know what that means,” said Justin. “We don’t say that in America.”

They were a disastrous few days – Justin’s very own Scarlet Takes A Tumble. “Couldn’t he squeeze in a few minutes to learn what ‘German’ means?” wrote the Huffington Post. “The Beebs doesn’t know that the word ‘German’ exists.”

Soon after a video emerged, filmed in Germany months earlier, in which Justin counted to 10 in German and spoke lovingly about his German great-grandfather.

“I couldn’t understand what the guy was saying,” explains Justin now. “I know what German is. Obviously.” He pauses. “It sounded like he was saying Jewman.”

“You thought he was asking you what the Jewman word for basketball was?” I ask.

“I didn’t know what he was saying.” Justin pauses. “Mike?” Justin turns to his press man, sitting in the far corner. “You were there.”

“The way he posed the question was confusing,” Mike agrees. “He was trying to be funny.”

“But it’s not even German for basketball,” says Justin.

“It was a joke,” says Mike.

“It was weird and I didn’t get it,” says Justin.

“By the way,” I say, “the Jewman word for basketball is ‘The game we don’t play well’.”

“Are you Jewish?” asks Justin.

“Yes,” I say.

“Nice,” he says.

He recites the first line of the Shema – the Jewish morning and evening prayer – getting it syllable perfect: “Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai ‘Ehad.” He pauses. “Christianity was based off of Jesus being a Jew,” he says. “I respect it.” Justin is a practising Christian. “I pray all the time,” he says. “I pray two to three times a day. When I wake up I thank him for my blessings. I thank him for putting me in this position. And at the end of the day I get out my Bible. At home-school my tutor is Christian, so we go over Bible verses. It’s something that keeps me grounded.”

“When you meet atheists, do you think they’d be better off if they were Christian?” I ask.

“They’re definitely missing out,” he says.

“What’s it like being home-schooled?” I ask.

“I only have to do three hours a day, which is good,” he says. “I drift off. I definitely drift off. So I’m better one-on-one.”

But paradoxically, he says, he is also a perfectionist. In fact, his perfectionism is a problem: “I’m way too hard on myself. I always want to be better.”

“Do you beat yourself up too much?” I ask.

“A bit too much,” he says. “But lately I’ve been trying to get better over it.”

Drifting off; outbursts of anger; being a perfectionist… “Do you have ADD?” I ask him.

“I…” Justin says. “I have a small case of ADD.”

“How does it manifest itself?” I ask.

“If I don’t understand something, and I’m bored, I don’t pay attention,” he says, “so my teacher has to really make it fun for me. Every hour he has to give me a five- to 10-minute break. But after the break I’ll be back into it. I’ll be good.”

“Have you actually been diagnosed with ADD?” I ask.

“No,” he says. “It’s self-claimed.”

“I’ve diagnosed myself with generalised anxiety disorder,” I say.

“Nice,” he says.

“Do you get anxious?” I ask.

“Yeah, I get anxiety sometimes,” he says. “Mostly when people are pulling me in 20 different directions. That’s when I get it. I’m, ‘Let me just breathe for a second’.”

“If I were you I’d constantly be telling people not to fucking touch me,” I say, “because you’re forever being harnessed and prodded.”

“It’s tough,” Justin says.

He denies, by the way, telling the Sydney floor manager not to “fucking” touch him – “Hearing adults spread lies and rumours is part of the job, I guess,” he tweeted at the time – but he admits losing his temper with him. “There are so many people telling you what to do,” he says. “I work really hard, and I’m tired, and I have bad days.” He pauses. “Everyone has bad days.”

He tells me a story about before he was famous. He approached the rapper Twista for an autograph: “He was, ‘Not right now.’ I was, like, ‘Dang.’ But now I’m in that situation I understand where he was coming from. You’ve got so much going on. Like if I’m eating. I don’t want to be bothered when I’m eating. That’s my only downtime. People don’t understand. They think it’s all fun. And everything’s great. But it’s hard work.” He falls silent. Then he adds, with some vehemence: “It’s harder than anyone thinks.”

“The huge steel-framed hot air balloon basket is designed to fly me out over the crowd, dipping not quite low enough for them to touch, but close enough for me to see all those beautiful faces.”

First Step 2 Forever: My Story

Justin writes in his autobiography that his favourite topic of conversation is, “Girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, girls, GIRLS.” I tell him that I am prepared to ask him about girls, but self-consciously so, for I am a 43-year-old man and I think it will seem creepy.

“You can ask me about girls,” says Justin, reassuringly. “It’s all good. I like girls. Girls are awesome. Yeah.”

“How will you ever find a girlfriend who won’t just spend the whole time thinking, ‘It’s Justin fucking Bieber’?” I ask.

“That’s what’s hard about this,” he says. “There are so many girls who would just do anything for me because of my status.” He pauses. “Someone told me it’s great to be with somebody who has just as much to lose as you do.”

“So you’ll have to go out with someone famous?” I ask.

“Yeah. That’s probably a good idea. Because I can never date somebody who’s so in love with me that she would do anything for me.”

He shrugs as if to apologise for the downbeat, pensive tenor of the interview. He says I should be glad I’ve not got him on a bad day.

“Mike knows my bad days,” he says.

“Act out what you’re like on a bad day,” I say.

“OK. Ask me a question,” he says.

“What do you think of that sofa?” I say.

Justin gives me a look of boredom tinged with withering hatred: “I like it,” he mutters. “Next question.” He gazes off into the distance.

A chill runs through me. “Thank God you’re not having a bad day today,” I say.

“I’ll be zoning off,” he says. “I’ll be over there. I’ll not be focused on you. Good days I’ll be…” Justin leans over until he’s an inch from my face. He gives me a vast and petrifying smile.

Outside in the lobby, hundreds of competition winners are readying themselves for their meet and greet with Justin. Mike the PR explains that the concept has changed over the decades. In the old days it might have taken the form of a drinks party. But now it’s a long line of people, ushered, four at a time, into a room in which Justin is standing. They say hello, get their photographs taken, and are ushered quickly out again.

And it is never-ending. Fan after fan after fan. Justin says hi. They shriek and look as if they’re going to pass out. They have their pictures taken with him. They’re gone. Each encounter lasts perhaps 30 seconds in total. Many have brought letters, which they hand to Justin, who hands them on to someone else, who hands them on to someone else, who puts them on a nearby counter. What happens to them after that, I don’t know. I have a quick read of a few of them:

“So I’m sitting here trying to write this letter to you. I didn’t think it would be this hard… I’m really just this short person…

“Call me: 510-502…”

One girl hands Justin a letter and then seems overwhelmed with doubt and suspicion.

“Read it,” she barks at him. Then she turns to me. “Watch him as he reads it,” she yells.

Nearby, there’s a larger-than-life-size cardboard cutout of Justin. The real Justin wanders over to it. “Who are you looking at, buddy?” he mutters. He punches it in the face.

A few minutes later and another girl’s moment with Justin happens to coincide with him being briefly distracted. “Jesus!” she hollers as she’s shepherded away. “He didn’t say hi or nothing.”

But Justin is already posing for another photograph.

THE GUARDIAN

4
The Associated Press Interview with Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber did a book siging at Barnes and Noble in L.A. on Sunday and while he was at it spoke candidly about things in his life.

Justin Bieber did a promotional book signing event at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Los Angeles on Sunday October 31 and while he was at it he revealed that he wants to be a Dad. Indeed it would seem that he wants to be a Dad sooner than later.

Not right away or anything, no he’s but 16 and definitely smart enough to know that he’s got lots of living and lots of singing ahead before taking on being a parent. But in an interview with the Associated Press before sitting down to talk to his fans and to sign books and have photos taken he candidly said that he wants fatherhood before he gets too old.

Bieber Sees Marriage and Fatherhood…One Day

“I see myself being like, 30, like, married, like, probably. I don’t know. It seems far away for me” he told the AP. “But I want to be a young dad. I don’t want to be old and not be able to kick around the soccer ball, you know?”

That wasn’t the only subject he was candid about. He actually referred to himself as a “heartthrob” but it seems by the hesitation that he’s not entirely comfortable with calling himself that. He made it clear he wants to continue taking singing seriously and named two well known singers who were in his position when younger and who he planned to emulate.

“I see myself making a smooth transition from being a teenage, um, you know, teenage heartthrob basically to, you know, to an adult singer,” he said. “I want to make that smooth transition, kind of like Usher or Justin Timberlake did it.”

Massive Line-up For Bieber to Sign First Step 2 Forever: My Story

The line-up for Sunday’s signing saw over a thousand teen and tween girls, and many parents and even some boys, wait patiently for a chance to get Bieber’s book Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story, signed by the Canadian singer, actor (he was recently in an episode of CSI: Las Vegas and now writer.

The interview wasn’t long given all the book signing, fan-meeting and photos that he had waiting. He was asked about why write a book in the first place. After all with all that’s been written about him it’s easy enough to presume his fans know all there is to know. He’s clearly though about the answer.

“I don’t know if they know it completely. I’ve never gotten the chance to really tell them myself. I’ve told them in interviews and people have written articles, but it’s not really from me,” he pointed out. “I was able to write all my thoughts down and basically tell them, basically, how I’m feeling, you know? Just different stuff like that.”

Bieber 2010 Tour Moving on From L.A.

Bieber, who had his new acoustic video version of this song Never Say Never debut on FOX before the third game of the World Series last Saturday, is now moving on from the California leg of his tour. The 16-year-old is Oklahoma City on Wednesday November 3 and in San Antonio, Texas Friday and in Houston on Saturday.

SUITE101

 

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Even by teen-sensation standards, it has been a big week for Justin Bieber.

The Canadian pop singer announced Monday that he will star as himself in a 3D biopic to be released in time for next Valentine’s Day.

And he says he’s also at work on a memoir, due in October. The book is titled Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story. A comic book about the 16-year-old singer also comes out in October.

On Twitter, Bieber called the movie project “incredible news.” The movie, as yet untitled, will include footage of his current tour, which swings into Scotiabank Place on Aug. 24. Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for helming An Inconvenient Truth, is in negotiations to direct.

How hot is Bieber? New York magazine, which usually skips teen sensations, profiles him in its current issue.

Here are 12 things we learned from the feature, written by Alex Morris….
1. Justin’s “swagger coach” says yes to maroon high-tops

Before each performance, Justin tries on different outfits and e-mails the photos to Ryan Good, his stylist (a.k.a. “swagger coach”). For one New York appearance, Good gave his approval to black jeans, a black T-shirt, a white vest, and maroon high-tops. Justin also wore a $7,500 necklace by the jeweller David Yurman.

2. The Double Point is good, but no match for The Baby Crotch Grab

In a sidebar, New York also details Justin’s best dance moves. For The Baby Crotch Grab, Justin squeezes his inner thigh. Somewhere, Michael Jackson is smiling.

3. Snort like a horse, meow like a kitten, squeeze like a Baby Crotch Grab

For his vocal warm-ups, Justin makes various noises as piano scales rise and fall in the background. “He snorts like a horse along the scales. Then he meows like a kitten.”

4. Bieber is Bambi

“Bieber is adorable in the tawny, guileless way of a small woodland creature,” Morris writes. “His eyes are moist and fawnlike, his lips a blend of pout and puck. His downy cheeks seem never to have been affronted by anything as indelicate as a razor.”

5. Mom to Justin: ‘It’s 10 p.m. You’re not going bowling. You’re 16.’

Sure, he’s a megastar. But like any teenager, his mom has the final word.

When Justin wants to go bowling one night in New York, his mother Pattie points out that he has a 6 a.m. lobby call the next morning.

“Tonight’s not a good night,” she says. “You can go bowling any time.”

“Any time?” Justin asks, with reason. “All right. You name a time.”

“It’s just late.”

“Ten o’clock?”

“Yes, that’s too late. Justin, you’re 16.”

“Exactly,” he retorts. “I’m not two.”

(He didn’t go bowling.)

6. WE SKIPPED PROM TO SEE U JUSTIN!

Most calculating poster made by two devoted fans. The girls waited 12 hours outside Rockefeller Plaza to see his performance on the Today show.

7. He tweets, they swoon

Justin tweets at least four times more often than any other celebrity, “almost as if he’s filling a quota,” Morris writes. “He follows more than 70,000 people. He actively cultivates an online conversation, maintaining the illusion that it is not one-sided by frequently giving ‘shout-outs’ to particular fans (‘allison in the purple tye dyed shirt it was nice meeting u’). For many fans, having him follow them on Twitter is a lifetime goal …”

8. Producer L.A. Reid on the Justin phenomenon

“Look, we put his first single out 13 months ago, and today he’s selling out arenas all over America, and kids in the nosebleed section are wearing Justin Bieber T-shirts, and when he says scream, they scream, and when he says jump, they jump. I’ve never seen anything like it since the Beatles.”

9. Pre-performance prayer by Justin’s youth pastor

“Father, we come before you, acknowledging you for this day, for this opportunity. Thank you for each member of this team, Father. Thank you for the performance. May you bless each and every person, Father, and may they see you in us as we perform. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

10. No Advil for Justin

Millions of people take ibuprofen for a headache. Not Justin. Not before he sings, at least. Ibuprofen thins the capillaries, which might result in damage to his vocal chords.

11. Telling quote from Scooter Braun, Bieber’s manager

“Never mess with the passion of a 14- or 15-year-old girl.”

12. Justin, the prankster scamp

Once, having swiped the number from Scooter’s phone, Justin called the singer Akon, pretending to be his illegitimate son. “He’s like, ‘Daddy, why don’t you love me?’ ” Scooter laughs. “It really scared the s— out of Akon.”

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
1

You know you’ve officially caught it. Bieber Fever. In the midst of his industry takeover, VIBE catches up with Justin Bieber, the young heartthrob / Usher mentee who’s bodied the industry and has every crazed teenie bopper armed with an autograph pen in tears.

VIBE: Are you used to the fame now or are there still moments when you think to yourself, Wow, this is my life?

Justin Bieber: It’s been pretty crazy traveling the world and living my dream. Not many people get to do what I’m doing. It’s amazing. My favorite thing is being able to travel around the world and perform for my fans. I think I’ve lost 80 percent of my hearing. I definitely have very loud fans.

When did you realize that you had officially become a phenomenon?

I got to meet the President [Barack Obama] a few times. I got a tour of the White House. He’s really cool and down to earth. I thought he was going to be really reserved, but he was cool. I met [the First Daughters, Sasha and Malia] when I went to the White House and they were nice.

What was cooler: Meeting the president or meeting Oprah?

That’s a tough one. Oprah was really cool. She came in the dressing room afterwards, met my parents and grandparents.

The Internet has been very good to you. Did you have any idea that posting your videos on YouTube would make you a star?

I posted the videos on YouTube for fun, just messing around. I never was a kid who wanted to be famous. I’m from Stratford, Ontario, a very small town, 30,000 people. I didn’t have money for a manager. We didn’t have a lot of money [period].

Where do you think you’d be right now if YouTube didn’t give you a forum to reach the world?

Without the Internet I would have no fans and I wouldn’t be in this business. I owe everything to the Internet and my fans.

Let’s talk numbers. You’ve amassed more than 150 million views on your YouTube channel, nearly 3 million fans on Facebook and more than 2 million Twitter followers. Those numbers basically mean that you’re one of the most watched people in the world. What do you make of those numbers?

I was checking my Twitter yesterday and I have almost 4 million followers [now], have YouTube 300 million. It’s crazy how everything is blowing up.

What’s the worst part about being famous?

I really don’t like photo shoots. I really have a short attention span so standing in one place for hours is not me. I have high energy and like to bounce around. Looking into a camera…

What’s the most ridiculous thing a groupie has done to get your attention?

My mom has me on a tight leash and [she’s] being real protective. The girls show up wearing nothing. I can’t lie, I’m 16, I don’t hate it. I don’t have a girlfriend.

We’ve got to talk about the hair. Why are people so obsessed with it? There are Websites dedicated to it?

I think the obsession with my hair is funny. People copy my hair. At meet and greets, people touch my hair. I don’t have any product in it.

When you’re the breadwinner in the family do you have an allowance? Do you have a curfew?

My mom is still my mom. She could care less if I’m an international superstar. I still have to clean my room on the tour bus. She takes my computer at 12 [a.m.] so I can sleep. I don’t have a bedtime [but] she doesn’t want me on the computer because she doesn’t want it to rot my brain. When she takes away my computer, I still play with my iPad. She doesn’t know. My mom is my biggest fan. She’s been a fan since I was a baby. My father in Canada, taking care of my brother and sister. He’s amazing; he’s really proud of me.

Puberty has hurt many a young star’s career. Do you worry about your voice changing? Do you think it will hurt your career?

Everyone’s voice changes. Puberty is a natural thing. I have the best vocal coach in the world and we’re working on my voice and doing what I need to do. It’s not like as soon as you hit puberty you stop singing. Usher is the best mentor in the world and he survived puberty. He tells me what to do, what not to do.

What’s in your iPod?

My iPod is really scattered. Boys II Men, Snoop, Prince, Eminem, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, Gucci Mane, all of Young Money… Lil Wayne is my favorite, Biggie, Pac—my dad introduced me to 2Pac when I was nine and I could rap all of Thug Nation by the time I was 10. Front to back, I could still do it.

Prove it.

[Starts rapping “Dear Mama”].

Your street cred is in tact?

A little bit…

What’s next for you? You were so cute on Saturday Night Live. Is acting something you’d like to tackle?

For sure. I have fun with acting and I’d like to do more. Comedy is really fun. I can be serious. Whatever roles are good for me I think I will take. I’d like to work with Martin Lawrence. He’s one of my favorite actors.

What about a collaboration with Drake?

He’s great. He’s a really good artist. He’s like my big brother. He definitely tells me to have fun with what I’m doing and stay humble. It’s really important. I’m touring right now and writing a little bit on the bus. Seeing new cities and different crowd reactions. I think that really [my success] is because I’m genuine. I’m myself. I don’t hold back. I’m just being me and doing what I love and having fun. People like that. People can see character and whether you’re doing it for the money or definitely love doing it for real.

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