I stand by my accurate, private and irrelevant theory that a college student in her final year of studies can draw an immediate comparison of her collected experiences and growth to that of the rambunctious Justin Bieber. I’m speaking to you especially, Class of 2016, who has aged with the beloved Mr. Biebs. Remember when you were lying on the bathroom floor of Markley at 3 a.m., just moments after vomiting? Bieber was, concurrently, performing some comparably dumb scenario, like pissing publicly in some backstage mop bucket. From there, the size and breadth of the mistakes and successes made by both parties only grew. You failed however many tests (hopefully not that many) and Bieber collected ticket after ticket on that lovely yellow Lamborghini. Together the Class of 2016 and Bieber have drank too much and, subsequently, made some fairly wretched decisions. They were never life altering, but for both parties, they came pretty close.
We’ve been with him through it all: from the prepubescent, floppy haired, Ludacris-laced days of “Baby” to the excessively popular “Deport Bieber” petitions to the matured post-Selena Bieber. Modern Bieber, still undeniably sexy and vaguely feminine, positioned himself as a pop star with enough taste and humility to place two New Zealand dance crews, ReQuest and Royal Family Mega Crew, in the dance video for his most recent single, “Sorry.” Clothed in fluorescents reminiscent of some deliciously trippy ’80s explosion, New Zealand’s finest dancers present sets of mesmerizing choreography that lets no bodacious body go unnoticed. Perfectly on par to every single one of the song’s heavy bass beats, the dancers keep all eyes glued to the screen. Polka-dotted, spectacled, red-lipped and monochromatically dressed, each of the dancers is uniquely dressed in what will surely become someone’s last minute Halloween costume.
Bieber’s decision to remove his physical self from the “Sorry” dance video is some sort of calculated brilliance. Not only does he appear less eager to the public, but his music now assumes a versatility that transcends his previous work.