Justin Bieber's Love Song Is Probably Not Going to Make Civil Rights Anthem History
EntertainmentMusic
Yike: Justin Bieber, “2 Much” – Martin Luther King, Jr.’s voice being the first thing you hear when you turn on the new Justin Bieber album is not something I expected today to give me, but here we are. That would probably seem weird enough in the wokest of Bieber tunes, but “2 Much” is a romantic piano ballad that has little apparent engagement with social justice. (By the way, the King quote here—“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”—is one of two featured on Justice.) Slapping some samples on another album of love tunes is just about the definition of doing the least. What exactly is his point, and who does he think he’s fooling with it? —Rich Juzwiak