Why was Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" performance on The Voice so terrible?

by Aaron Zorgel

May 9, 2012

0

0

0

0

0

Email this article to a friend

Before Carson Daly could even mention his name, screams echoed through the studio, and the lights came up on a fog-laden stage. Somewhere, Scooter Braun whispered into a walkie-talkie: "Commence phase 3 of the JB maturation sequence."

Justin Bieber returned the The Voice last night, to perform his single “Boyfriend” for the first time ever on the finale episode.

Before Carson Daly could even mention his name, screams echoed through the studio, and the lights came up on a fog-laden stage. Somewhere, Scooter Braun whispered into a walkie-talkie: “Commence phase 3 of the JB maturation sequence.”

And with that, Kid Rauhl is no longer a kid. From now on, he will be known as “Man Rauhl.”

This performance was a chance for Justin and his team to showcase a new and improved mature Justin Bieber: a deeper voice, a cultivated style, and a young man in his prime, as opposed to the pubescent pop-star we’ve grown accustomed to over the past few years.

Despite the fact that it’s going to arouse the ire of Beliebers everywhere, it just has to be said:

That performance was terrible.

What should have been Justin Bieber’s coronation turned into a disastrously mediocre performance, in front of an audience of over 10 million people. So what happened?

Under-preparation

Justin has been run ragged on the promotional cycle for Believe, and it shows. The performance had little choreography for Justin to work with, likely because rehearsals didn’t allow for anything too complicated. He mostly just stands in place while singing, and walks from spot to spot, adding the odd Michael Jackson-inspired dance flourish in between breaths.

Challenging vocal dynamics on “Boyfriend”

On “Boyfriend,” it’s easy to write-off Justin’s rapping, but having to go from a non-melodic whisper to a full-volume melodic chorus is tough to pull off in a live setting. It’s a dynamic jump that’s hard to manage when you can’t hear yourself properly, and as a result, Justin’s pitch was wavering. He was relying on a backing vocal track for his entire performance, which is something he rarely did in previous live performances. Granted, I can imagine all of that fog is pretty tough on the vocal chords.

He forgot the lyrics

Around the 2 minute mark of his performance, when he’s supposed to go into the “Give me a chance…” bridge, Justin starts to repeat the second whisper-rap verse. A mistake like that speaks to under-preparation, but it can also throw off the rest of the performance.

The Voice stage is gigantic

Justin’s team decided to use the entire stage for his performance, which had him climbing stairs, running around, jumping on set pieces, and left him generally out of breath for much of the performance.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I recognize that there’s going to be an adjustment period as Justin gets comfortable performing his new material live. I’m just saying that the fact that he was under-rehearsed for this performance was a huge oversight.

This is an important phase of Justin’s career, and if he has any shot at longevity, a performance of this magnitude should be perfect. Given that Justin and Scooter have said that they are looking at Michael Jackson as their artistic role model, I think it’s safe to say that this performance wasn’t up to scratch.

That said, the kid just graduated high school. Maybe my expectations are too high. We only push you to be better, because we know you can be better, Biebs. You’ll get ’em next time.

Tags: Music, Justin Bieber, The Voice

0

0

0

0

0

Email this article to a friend