Justin Bieber
My World 2.0
Island
out March 23rd
97 /100
[Rating Scale]

Rate Justin Bieber’s My World 2.0

It doesn’t happen too often, but one of the greatest-feeling successes in the music discovery and sharing process is finding a gem where you least expected it. I was recently sent Justin Bieber’s My World 2.0 and laughed at the sad little package sitting on my desk. I won’t deny that I thought out loud “They sent me this?!” The other students in the mailroom wondered what I was talking about. Irregardless, after ignoring the album for over a week now, I decided to finally give it a chance. I can’t even begin to express the combination of surprise, pure joy, and teenage girl tears it gave me within the first 10 minutes of listening. I really recommend you purchase the album asap and set it as a background to your reading of this review. There really is no other way for you to understand.

The album starts off with Bieber’s powerful pre-pubescent vocals paired with Ludacris’s distinguished diction on “Baby”. If I could listen only to any single series of songs for the next week, it would be solely comprised of these two artists collaborating on some epic 18 track rock opera. Ludacris expertly relates to all audiences in his verse, reeling in both 14-year-old girls and middle aged 9 to 5ers as well. Bieber has really stepped back and grown from 2009’s My World. He has successfully readdressed whom he wants as an audience, and he ought to expect soaring respect levels.

“Baby” is also My World 2.0’s first released single, and not surprisingly. It certainly is the best track on the album, but the rest follow closely with a collectively-tied second. “Eenie Meenie” is one of these track that cannot be ignored. Sean Kingston successfully adds flavorful Jamaican exoticism to the track, forcing Bieber’s previous critics to reconsider his multi-genre talent.

The album as a whole fruitfully supplies a creative assembly of pop piano, reminiscent of Ben Folds, and assorted unconventional sounds from triangles, to raised-edge wood blocks, to synth violins. As a result, Bieber doesn’t have to concentrate of dragging fans in through weak but catchy lyrics. Instead, the 16-year-old boy is able to relate profound and creative choruses. His maturity level is unrivaled amongst his peers. Subsequently, Bieber is able to believably relay his message to the listeners through his all-knowing lyrics, such as in “Runaway Love” when he cries, “I’d give it all up for us / never be enough / I won’t stop until I find / My runaway love.”

My World 2.0’s ability to seamlessly flow between 2010 club hit and The Hills commercial backtrack really shows Bieber’s growth not just as an artist, but as a writer.  He daringly crosses conventional boundaries of male/female vocals, raising himself to the likes of Antony Johnson and Prince. His confidence doesn’t end there. He proves he’s for real in this album, and that he’s got the attitude to continue to put out stellar records for years to come. He doesn’t give a shit if his songs all follow identical simple formats, or that he repeats the name of the song too many times throughout each 3-4 minutes. He also defies norms when using the letter ‘u’ in “U Smile”. On World 2.0, Bieber has gained enough confidence to say, “Hey, fuck you critics. Fuck you English language. This is my sophomore album, and I’m gonna do whatever I want.” I’m not exaggerating when I say that is one of the largest flaws with today’s music industry: not enough pure, adolescent attitude.  Maybe if Arcade Fire or MGMT would get some fucking backbone they’d get this kind of praise too. Until then, I think Bieber is certainly leveling the playing field.

I know many of you are reading this and are like “this chick is batshit.” But seriously, have you ever even listened to it? I seriously doubt you have. You maybe have heard a track ironically playing from a car driving by you out on Driggs, or playing in your little sister’s room in between episodes of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, but I really doubt you have actually considered Bieber as a potentially respectable musical artist. Moreover, I seriously encourage you to give him a chance. It’s like that time Fall Be Kind leaked and I was all “ugh, but Animal Collective is like sooo overrated!” and then I listened to it a bunch of times and I was all “Oh hey fuck, this EP is incredible!” It’s just like that.

Ari Mygatt on Twitter | Facebook | Last.fm

Tags: Justin Bieber

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AVANT MUTEK TOUR w/ AKUFEN

I have always been jealous of the major Canadian cities because of festivals like Mutek. Well now I can enjoy the warm embrace of the traveling tour when it hits WPG tmrw. I have listened to Akufen for years and even though new material is less than forthcoming his effect and impact on electronic in the 90′s is unmistakable.

w/ AKUFEN (DJ) and STEPHEN BEAUPRÉ (live).

Presented by Symptom Technologies, Memetic and MUTEK w/ Joe Silva and Nathan Zahn Tickets: $10 in advance at Kustom Kulture, The Urban Bakery, Into the Music, $15 at the door.

FaceBook OTHER DATES IN COMMENTS

Akufen – Jeep Sex (original mix)

some serious tune from ou est le swimming pool as well as getting the new king of electro tiesto on the mix (sorry steve) pre the full release on itunes next week yall.

there wasn’t much too go on from the email but it’s a real eye ear opener hearing premium production skills when you sift through stuff that sometimes gets mastered and only to a certain degree.

big room anthem, plenty of fist pumps, hiss.

Ou Est Le Swimming Pool – These New Knights (Tiësto Remix) ysi 320Kbps

this ones for you marco…

Ubbs

NYC outfit Cubic Zirconia dropped the “Josephine EP” a while back and it comes backed with this dub remix from Toronto production wizard Egyptrixx. If you like your bass music mixed in with bubbling synth patterns, eerie vocals and some experimental elements then you’ll enjoy this.

Cubic Zirconia – Josephine (Egyptrixx dub) (YSI)

Cubic Zirconia – Josephine (Egyptrixx dub) (zShare)

PS. Egyptrixx just released his new EP “The Only Way Up” on the Night Slugs imprint (that’s more and more looking like a strong contender for label of the year) and on that EP Cubic Zirconia returns the remix favour.

PS 2. Releaseparty for said EP will be held in at The Studio at Webster Hall in NYC on saturday April 3rd. It also happens to be the premiere of Kingdoms and Dre Skulls new party Club Infinity and to celebrate the event he’s giving away this remix from the archives.

Ricky Blaze – I Feel Free ft. Ron Browz (Kingdom Remix) (Mediafire)

Party details after the jump.

Kingdom, Dre Skull, and MeanRed Present: The Premiere of CLUB INFINITY

SAT APR 3:

EGYPTRIXX – Live PA + Night Slugs EP Release! (Night Slugs/Vicious Pop)

CUBIC ZIRCONIA (Don’t Cry)
DRE SKULL (Mixpak Records)
KINGDOM (Fool’s Gold/Night Slugs)
JUBILEE (Nightshifters)
+ HARD NYC official after party with T&B Crew

DOORS AT MIDNIGHT
$5 w/ RSVP: http://meanredproductions.com/1136 or $10 without
The Studio At Webster Hall, 125 E.11th St. NYC

so poney poney bail their name and re-form as jamaica, then xavier de rosnaysome of justice and daft punk sound engineer peter franco are all like hellz yeah we want to get involved in this shit which ends in the resulting single ‘I think I like u 2′.

for the amount of potential hype-o-meter it’s good, nothing amazing but a catchy swayable tune all those tweens can shake their hair to (there’s even a gnarly-guitar-daft-esque-solo).

Jamaica – I Think I Like U 2 ysi 192Kbps

guess we will see where this goes, cool cats collab merch is already pur-chasable here.

bonus > Flairs – Radio (Jamaica Remix) ysi 160Kbps

Oh and Odahl said a big thankyou to blogs a couple days ago for helping him get where he is today (I don’t actually know where he is location wise) by dropping an original glistening disco lick and devastatingly good short cut remix.

Odahl – Hold Me ysi 320Kbps

Odahl – Hold Me (Short Cut Remix) ysi 320Kbps

Maybe we should be thanking him?

Ubbs