Is Hate the new Love?

 In today’s world, trends change faster than couples change partners. It’s not only the speed of change that fascinates me; it’s the impact of this change. It transcends all boundaries and becomes a global phenomenon in no time. Fashion, lingo, latest gadgets, music, videos and games become famous (or infamous) overnight. Social networking on the internet is the catalyst responsible in this rapid flattening of the world and making it truly a global village, almost like one where you can recognize your neighbour by the smell of their fart.

However, this post is a little more specific, it is restricted to one amongst the many trends that took the world by storm.

Welcome to the world of “Bieber - bashing”.

A few years ago, what would you do if you heard a song you didn’t like on the radio? You would switch the station, or better, turn it off. Would you dare listen to it again? I doubt it and that’s what any sensible person would do, right? Wrong.

Pic a) Justin Bieber

For those of you aren’t aware (and aren’t sucked into this trend yet), Justin Bieber is a singer from Canada, who became an international sensation at age 16 thanks to his mother, who uploaded a few videos of his on Youtube. These were accidently seen by a talent manager and life hasn’t been the same since. (Read more about him here).

His music got popular (especially amongst teenage girls), he made more money than most people would in 7 lifetimes put together and every move of his made headlines; all this and more at the age of 16. What followed this fame was something not many expected; HATE!

This sudden transition of an ordinary 16 year old kid to a super celebrity didn’t go down too well with everybody. People criticized his music but this time around, no one was turning off the music player. In fact, in an almost reverse psychological way, his music was played in repeat. His music and his life were put under a microscope and everything he did was ridiculed and for that matter, everything he didn’t also earned him flak. I’m a big fan of statistics and I’d like to bring in some here to substantiate my claims.  

His record breaking single “Baby” has 699,126 likes and 1,425,025 dislikes on Youtube*.

So numbers show that people generally don’t like Bieber’s music. Then how the hell did his video get over half a billion hits(560,143,072)? Where is the logic? If they hate him so much why would they watch his video time after time and discuss how much they hate him?

“Bieber bashing” took a whole new level thanks to the entry of Rebecca Black. She entered with a bang and broke all of Bieber’s (in) famous records (FYI, she is 14 years old). Her single “Friday” has earned the distinction of being labelled the worst song ever and it has got 161,573,426 views on Youtube of which there are 439,381 likes and 3,123,770 dislikes. These numbers are more than the population of certain countries. And if you're of the opinion that these are all unique hits, then think again.  

Pic b) Rebecca Black 

Since we are already in the statistics mode, let’s add some more fuel to the fire.

To make things interesting, let’s compare these numbers to the ones of the top three songs on the Billboard chart (the kind people actually like listening to, apparently!).

1) 72,344,539 views --> for rolling in the deep, Adele

2) 27,150,472 views --> Give me everything, Pitbull

3) 80,354,589 views --> ET, Katty perry

The combined total of these “popular” songs is just marginally higher than Ms Black’s Friday and isn’t even half of Bieber’s Baby. Is this normal? People prefer listening to songs they don’t like over songs they actually like? What the hell is happening around here?

 It’s a trend that’s quite worrying. Honestly, these kids are no Mozarts but they definitely aren’t the worst singers in the world (if you don’t believe me, I would sing for you), but people can’t digest the fact that mediocre singers with pretty faces become Billionnaires even before they hit puberty.

Why would people who make statements like, “I want to cut my wrists everytime I listen Bieber sing”, keep going back to him over and over again? Do they derive some sadistic pleasure out of it? Is it really just the music that annoys them to go to such fanatical extents? Maybe it’s more; could be jealousy thanks to all that money, fame, girls, etc, or it could be nothing at all, just plain fun, not something they think too much about. Whatever the reason, they are ensuring that these kids never get off the spotlight.

Hopefully this is just one of the many fads that come and go but there sure are some happy people who are cashing in on this mixed popularity business and giving PR guys some innovations to try out. Till then, let's fold our hands and pray, "It's Friday, Friday, goto get down on Friday..."

Confession: I listened to “Friday” almost every Friday for weeks just to annoy people around me and to celebrate the coming of the weekend (which she has explained in detail in the song). I admit I was carried away in this wave and it was only when I saw some interviews of Rebecca Black did I realize that she is actually human with feelings and that’s when I realized that I was being quite hurtful. I'm a changed man and haven't made fun of any day of the week ever since. While I ponder on more such world's problems, I'd leave you to enjoy Rebecca Black's hit single, Friday...

*Statistics as on 08^th June, 2011. Only views of the official videos on Youtube are considered.

Picture Source:

a) http://fashionindie.com/bieber-bashing/

b)http://connect.in.com/rebecca-black/photos-1-1-1-bf2ba0b2cd5a71280e99bc9f90f8d98a.html