Today, in collaborations, we can genuinely say that we did not expect to see news: Justin Bieber graciously offered a composition credit to an emerging public figure, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on your new album Justice. In fact – and as several reviewers have noted—Bieber gave King the first place on the new album, which is probably as close as we are going to get to see a socially conscious Justin Bieber release. (Which means there are a lot of standard pop-R & B love songs that Justin Bieber has then added some clips of King’s speeches, but, you know, each according to his means.)
Critical discourse about the album (or, at least, about the deadCivil-rights-main parts of the album) essentially breaks in two fields: Bieber is cynically invoking King’s name and voice in an effort to appear more responsive to social justice issues than he really is, or Justin Bieber really think this is what social consciousness looks like? For what it’s worth, King’s property seems to support change; as noted by Vulture, King’s daughter, Bernice King, posted a tweet yesterday thanking Bieber for asking the estate’s permission to use King’s words on the album, where they feature both at the beginning of the opening track, “2 Much”, and on their own “ MLK ”separate Interlude.” It is also important to note that Bieber has launched its support lately behind a number of groups working to help minorities and the less fortunate, including Alexandria House, Equal Justice Initiative and The King Center itself, of which Bernice King is the current president.
Anyway: Congratulations to Martin Luther King Jr: With credits like this, you can someday yet achieve levels of influence like Justin Bieber in the modern world. (Oops, we were sad.)
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