By this time the YouTube views were up into tens of thousands. One video had been viewed over 72,000 times and had multiple “honors,” which show up when the video is generating a lot of interest. School started in the fall, and, during morning announcements one day, they played a montage of my YouTube videos, which had come to their attention because of Scooter’s original phone call. I was still keeping that as sort of a secret identity as far as school was concerned. Kids at school had no idea I did music. They didn’t hang out at the tourist places where I was busking. I was almost thirteen and still waiting for a growth spurt. If people knew me at all, they knew me as an athlete. Some of them thought it was their job to put me in my place, and I had a sinking feeling this video montage thing was going to make them even tougher on me.
“We were talking as if we’d known each other for years”
When Mom finally let me talk to Scooter on the phone, I was like, “Dude, why did you do that? That was totally embarrassing. Don’t you know eighth-graders eat their wounded? I don’t need that kind of exposure.”
Scooter laughed, which made me laugh too. After an hour or so, we were talking as if we’d known each other for years. We really are a lot alike in many ways, one of the most important being that we like a lot of the same music.
“Justin,” he said, “I’m really excited to talk to you. I’ve spoken to your mom and it looks like she’s going to allow me to fly you down to Atlanta on your first flight ever. When you get down here we’ll see if you can beat me in HORSE like you claim.” We’ve been playing HORSE ever since.
“No can do,” I told him. “We’re going to Disney World. I’ve been saving for the tickets. It’s our first vacation, and I’m paying for it.”
He kept working on us, and Mom and I talked it over til late at night.
“This might be an incredible opportunity, Mom. I don’t want to screw it up.”
“If this is what you want to do...” she nodded, “let’s go to Atlanta. Disney World will still be there when we get back.”
REACH FOR THE SKY
Mom and I boarded our first ever airplane flight in the fall of 2007. We left the ground, went up into the sky. It was every bit as awesome as I’d always thought it would be. All my life I’d been seeing airplanes up in the air, but, when I was a little kid, I thought that was for rich people. I knew it wasn’t totally impossible, but people like me and my mom were hardwired to keep our feet on the ground. I guess I saw the music business in kind of the same way. I saw people like Beyoncé, Usher and Justin Timberlake way up there in the stars. Was it even possible that I could do what they do? Scooter seemed to think so, and I wanted to believe it but we kept our feet on the ground. I knew better than to go running my mouth around school until I knew I had something real to talk about. Plus the disappointment of it not becoming real would have been too harsh for me.
When we landed in Atlanta, Scooter showed up to get us at the airport, driving a purple Mercedes. With rims.
I saw it and said, “Sweet!”
Mom just shook her head. Scooter got out of the car and surprised us with a big hug before he threw our bags in the trunk.
“What’s up, guys? I’m Scooter.”
“Glad to meet you. I’m Justin.”
“Nice wheels,” said Mom.
“Scooter was clowning around... we just hit it off straight away”
“This is the first car I ever bought myself,” he told us. “Paid cash for it back in my party days. I’m a different person now. In a very different line of work. But I still enjoy the car.”
“It’s crazy,” I said. “How’s the stereo system?”
“Deafening,” said Scooter.
“Crank it!”
He cranked up the stereo, and I started singing along with Rihanna and Jay-Z on “Umbrella.” Then Mom started singing along, and pretty soon we were all singing and laughing. Scooter was clowning around, doing his Mike Tyson voice and his Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. We just hit it off right away. Mom couldn’t believe it. She was like, “No one is ever goofy like this with us.”
“If it’s okay with you guys, I’m going to head over to Jermaine Dupri’s studio,” Scooter said.
“That’s definitely okay,” I replied. “That is sick.”
I knew Jermaine Dupri was big time. Back in the day, he’d launched some extremely successful young performers – rappers Kris Kross, Da Brat and Lil Bow Wow – and since then he’d worked with Mariah Carey, Luther Vandross and Mom’s old crushes, Boyz II Men.
“This is just a friendly visit, okay?” Scooter said. “We’re just there to hang out and play some video games. I don’t want you to sing for them yet. The plan is to let them get to know you, then show them the videos, then we’ll work together on something for you to sing for them. You’re not there to audition, understand?”
“I got it.”
We pulled into the parking lot of the private studio, just ahead of a black Range Rover. The driver got out, and my jaw practically dropped to the floor.
“Oh my God! Is that Usher?”
It was the same feeling I had when the airplane took off. I was up in the sky now. I was up there among the stars! It was just nuts, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t wait to see the faces on Chaz and Ryan when I told them I was chillin’ out with Usher. Before Scooter could stop me, I was out of the car and across the parking lot.
“Hey, Usher! Hey, man! Oh, man, I love you. Can I sing for you?”
“Nah, little buddy, it’s cold out here,” said Usher. “Let’s just go inside.”
People seem to think I met Usher totally by chance in a parking lot in Atlanta, and twenty minutes later I had a record deal. In fact, it was almost a year before I saw Usher again. He totally blew me off, said hello to Scooter and walked into the building to see whoever he was there to see. To this day I still tease Usher about it. He told somebody later he thought I was Scooter’s little cousin or something. Ha ha.
As Usher went inside, Scooter looked at me like... Dude!
But he said not to sing for Jermaine Dupri. He never said anything about Usher. We went in and met up with JD and played some video games. Every once in a while, I had this great vision of myself telling Chaz and Ryan, “So there I was chillin’ with m’boyz at the studio...” Mom was still on high alert, not ready to believe any of this was actually going to go anywhere. We were just goofing around, and I went off on Nelly’s rap from “Grillz,” a big song he did with Dupri.
“I couldn’t wait to see the faces on Chaz and Ryan when I told them I was chillin’ out with Usher”
At first, they laughed. It was probably weird to see this little white kid doing Nelly, but then Jermaine said, “Hold on, hold on. I gotta go get my camera.”
He came back and made me do the whole thing again so he could video it.
“That was extraordinary,” he said when I finished. “That was crazy. What is this kid – a baby Scooter?”
He laughed in pure amusement – I could tell he and Scooter had a close relationship and that he was enjoying this encounter, but not as much as I was. I mean c’mon, I’m just a kid from Stratford, Ontario, and here I am meeting Jermaine Dupri!
“What he really does is sing,” said Scooter.
Jermaine said, “This I gotta hear.”
“No, man, not today,” said Scooter. “He just flew in, and I really haven’t had a chance to—”
I let loose a little bit of Boyz II Men. Once again, Scooter just looked at me. Dude!
Jermaine gave Scooter a look.
“It’s not going to happen yet, buddy,” Scooter said, laughing and smiling.
I could tell from Scooter’s face that it was time to go, that this wasn’t part of his plan. Over the years Scooter and me have learned to work in synergy, but we were just starting out together at this point. We went back to the car.
“I was up in the sky. I was up there among the stars! It was just nuts”
“We’re not taking any shortcuts,” Scoot
er said. “We’re going to plan this carefully and do it right.”
“I don’t know about all this,” said Mom. “I just... I wish I knew more about this business. I wish I knew more about you as a person. I mean, you’re asking to become a major part of my son’s life, a consistent role model. I can’t allow that without some kind of... I don’t know.”
“Would it help if you met my family?” asked Scooter.
“Yeah. Actually it would. I’d feel a lot more comfortable.”
“My dad is actually passing through Atlanta tomorrow on his way home from this kite-boarding thing. You’ll like him a lot. My dad made me a man. He’s my best friend, but I respect him. You’ll see. If I’m half the man my dad is, I’m okay.”
The next day, we went to an airport restaurant and met Scooter’s dad: Dr. Ervin Braun, a dentist with a flair for extreme sports. Scooter’s mom is an orthodontist with a flair for the creative arts. Mom decided this Scooter guy in the purple pimpmobile was okay after all. He had a strong Jewish faith. His family were loving, rock solid and successful. Sure he was young, but he was polite and super-motivated. He knew a lot about the business. And he believed in me.
“Sure he was young, but he was polite and super-motivated. He knew a lot about the business. And he believed in me”
We were in Atlanta for only a few days, but before we left we formed a plan: we’d continue putting videos up on YouTube, racking up stats and refining what I was doing. Scooter had a lot of ideas about songs I could be singing as well as a strategy on how to present them and involve the growing fan base. They were all songs I loved, so I was completely on board with that. Over the next few months, we’d record new videos and load them up, and Mom and Scooter would stay up all night, watching the numbers climb, counting the honors.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
We spent Christmas 2007 at Grandpa and Grandma’s like always. New Year’s Eve, we sat there wondering what 2008 would bring.
“I think you should do ‘With You,’” Scooter told me. “That thing is on fire right now, and I know you can murder it.”
I thought that was a great idea. I loved that song, so it didn’t take me long to learn it, and I couldn’t wait for Mom to video it. Unfortunately, I’d just gotten the ugliest haircut of my life the day before. My trademark swoosh was hacked off into this squarish situation that kind of reminded me of Bart Simpson. Which was appropriate, because Mom shot the video in my room at Grandpa and Grandma’s with the poster of Bart Simpson on the wall behind me. Except the shot is framed so you’re just looking at Bart Simpson’s crotch. And some little hockey guys. A few minutes into it, I get up and you can see a Tupac poster too, and I guess that sums up my personality – Bart Simpson and Tupac. Ha ha. I don’t mind saying, Scooter was right – I really did murder that thing. That was all I cared about. I thought I’d nailed the song and couldn’t wait for him to see it.
He was at the Grammys when Mom sent it to him, and he loved the song. But the look – well, not so much. He sent Mom a text message: “This is really good, but let’s shoot again when his hair grows back.”
“In less than a month, that great song with the bad hair hit a million”
But the text got cut off. All Mom got was “This is really good,” so she loaded it up onto YouTube. By the time Scooter called to tell her to take it down, it had gotten more than 25,000 hits.
“Wow!” he said. “Well, let’s see what happens.”
In less than a month, that great song with the bad hair hit a million.
Now they all hit a million almost immediately, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am, but that first one – that was incredibly thrilling.
Mom and Scooter were putting in long nights and hardworking days. Scooter and Carin were going out by then, so poor Carin was sucked into the vortex too. Scooter was flying us down now and then to meet with one person or another, but nobody had the slightest interest in me. We were all getting frustrated. We’d put so much work into this and the YouTube hits were going through the roof, but no one in the “real-world” music industry cared about that. We kept hearing over and over, “You can’t launch a kid without a TV show. If he’s not on Nickelodeon or Disney, forget it.”
Scooter kept trying to tell people, “This kid already has a huge fanbase. They’re out there. If we give them the records, they’ll do the rest.” But that had never been done in the music business. Everyone understood the concept of a viral video, but no one had ever used that to successfully launch a major act. With every person that said “no,” it just seemed to excite Scooter. He said that it would just make it sweeter when it happened.
“Nothing great ever came that easy,” he told me.
Talking to Scooter on the phone late at night, I told him, “We gotta make this happen. The more I think about it, the more I want it. And, if I say anything about it at school, people think I’m being a jerk.”
“They’re just jealous,” said Scooter.
“Of what? They think I’m making the whole thing up. They’re like, ‘If you’re all that, when are you gonna be on MTV, Bieber?’; ‘Hey, Bieb, aren’t you supposed to be at Neverland having lunch with Michael Jackson?’”
“Maybe they’re jealous because you have something to believe in.”
I hadn’t thought of that.
“This is going to happen, Justin,” he told me. “The only thing that can stop you is you. People who fail in this business – the really talented people, I mean – it’s never about the music. It’s about their personal lives. Stay focused and never mind any of the crap anybody says. That’s not you, that’s them. That’s the negative place they want to live in. You choose to live in a positive place.”
“Nothing great ever came that easy”
CHAPTER 5
THE START OF A NEW LIFE
The pre-show VIP meet’n’greet is an opportunity for me to hang out with a few fans before the rest of the crowd moves in. Opening night of the tour, about two hundred beautiful girls gather right in front of the stage. My DJ, Tay James, joins me onstage and gets things going. He really knows how to light the fire. Dan comes out and we jam on a little “Crazy Train,” and then I call for Scooter.
“Give it up for my manager, Scooter Braun!”
Fans love it when I drag Scooter out. As a manager, he can solve any problem that comes up – untie any knot, fix any mistake – but he’s also one of the most creative people I’ve ever met. He does impersonations that are dead-on hilarious. The girls down front go crazy. They all know who he is.
“Scooter, come on out here. Do Schwarzenegger. Please? C’mon. Do it.”
He takes a mike and says, “Buy da ahlbum of Jostin Beebah or I break your arm off and beat you with it.”
Everybody falls out laughing, and he switches to Mike Tyson.
“I jutht want to thay... Juthtin Bieber hath made me one leth lonely guy.”
“Obama! Scooter, do Obama.” He tries to wave it off and walk away, but I get the crowd chanting, “Obama! Obama! Obama!”
“Well, as you know, it’s all about change. My lovely daughters, Sasha and Malia, are big fans of this guy right here. And I gotta tell ya, I love the Bieb.”
“Scooter’s one of the most creative people I’ve ever met”
We do some Q&A. It’s mostly the usual questions, but I don’t mind, because everyone is in such a great mood. The energy is already building.
Scooter waves his hand at the back of the group.
“Yes, you. Old guy back there. You had a question?”
“Yeah,” he says. “Do you have any special guests coming tonight?”
“Well, let’s see,” I reply. “I’ve got my mom here, of course, and my grandpa and grandma. And then there’s my good friend—”
Before I can say Usher’s name, the crowd catches sight of him coming out on stage behind me. The place goes bananas. Usher gives me a sideways bro hug. We do one of our famous secret handshakes. He waves before he goes backstage to crazy applause.
“This is the first step to forever”
Dan and I wrap things up. The VIP fans head to a reception upstairs. The arena is quiet for the moment. Under the stage Usher and I sit on the edge of a ramp, talking quietly.
“The successful journey starts with the first step,” he tells me. “And obviously that first step is the hardest. It’s a lot to ask of someone so young to take on such an incredible feat. You’ve got to pace yourself. Enjoy yourself. Go out there and know that all this hard work has paid off, and this is the moment for you to enjoy it.”
“I will,” I reply. “Everybody’s been busting on me all week about voice rest, but we need to rehearse. I want everything to go right. I don’t want to let anybody down.”
“You know the energy of this entire family. Everything’s very loose, very organic, a lot of love. We’re trying to care for you. Obviously your voice is the most important part. They can’t listen to the music when they’re watching you dance, so we’ve got to protect that voice, and that’s really why I wanted to be here for the first run. I want to make sure you understand that you’ve got to pace yourself. It’s not gonna all happen over one show. Think about the eighty-five shows coming up.”
“That’s all I’ve been thinking about, man. Are you kidding? Eighty-five shows in six months. I get it.”
“I want everything to go right. I don’t want to let anyone down”
“Eighty-five seems very big. Intimidating. But the first step is the reality of it coming to an end someday. And when you get to number eighty-five you’ll be so seasoned, you’ll be recognized then as being a forever artist – not a flash in the pan – and the next step is a major world tour. This is the first step to forever, man. It’ll go as far as you want to. But you have to be smart. You’ll have to pace yourself onstage and in life.”
Justin Bieber Page 5