Everything That Went Wrong in Justin Bieber's "Changes" Era and Label Sabotage: Will JB6 have the same fate? A look inside the marketing world
“Changes” marks Justin Bieber’s fifth studio album and his first one in over five years. Following in Journals’ footsteps, it was Justin’s return to the R&B genre. However, many of his fans weren’t pleased with the era rollout and to be honest, there were A LOT of cons here.
I made a video for this portion of the post that explains everything that went wrong in this era.
Watch it now and tell me what you think!
I hope you enjoyed it. There were some funny parts I included that really cracked me up LMAO.
What do you think was the main reason that the Changes era under performed?
I reviewed the album when it came out so check out that post if you’re interested.
In the video, I emphasized that the transition from single-flirty-POP Bieber to married-kinda-boring-R&B Bieber, aided in the album under performing to his standard.
Another thing I focused on is the fact that Justin’s LOOK was a mess! Homeboy looked better going out to lunch than he did at his series premiere.
How do fans have a connection with a celebrity? THROUGH WHAT THEY SEE. None of you personally know any of these people… I mean if you do, hit us up.
The “look” is what draws people in especially if you’re like Justin, who’s career is more than music. People are invested in his life and a lot of it has to do with his audience. It’s not like his audience mainly consists of a bunch of older stay at home moms—nothing wrong with that, but certain audiences latch onto an artist based on their craving for personal connection.
Justin’s mustache alone scared everyone off from that connection.
That’s just a little summary of some of the points I spoke about in the video. Don’t you worry, I mentioned the LACK of damage control for the imaginary feud Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift have with him.
This post and video mainly revolve around the technical aspects of the industry which is a topic that many of you have expressed enjoying and wanting more of! That makes me so happy because it’s one of my favorite topics.
Understanding the techniques and technicalities behind celebrities will open your eyes to the inside information we spill. It goes hand in hand.
The best part about this post is the fact that I know it’ll get to Justin and his manager, Scooter Braun. Hey Scoot, take some notes. Some of us understand social media a little bit more than you do ;)
This next part isn’t discussed in the video!
Will JB6 suffer the same fate?
So let’s talk about something that stans don’t understand and love pretending they majored in it—PROMOTION.
When a celebrity flops, their stans will always scream “LACK OF PROMO!!!!!!” which is… true… to an extent! A lot of it has to do with the ROLLOUT of the PROMOTION.
There’s a concept that many stans have trouble understanding and that is an established artist vs. a new artist.
I’ll keep it simple because an “established artist” has levels to it. Also, I briefly discussed this on Twitter.
Justin is now teasing his new era and at the time this post will be going up, it’ll be one day before he releases his new song Holy, with Chance The Rapper.
Beliebers are livid! Where is the promo? Where is the anticipation? How is Justin just dropping a single by telling us just a week in advance?
I feel you… I get it… but it’s Justin dropping a single, not Camila Cabello.
As an artist continues establishing and creating their legacy, they operate under the mentality of “work smarter, not harder.” You can’t expect Justin to do another month countdown of a single just like he did in 2015. The Purpose era solidified his status as a legend in the making (yes, a legend, whether or not you like it). After an era like that, he’s supposed to have already solidified his status which makes it possible for him to drop a single with only a week notice as opposed to a month.
Established artists are able to drop albums out of nowhere and that’s something that you’ve seen with Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Eminem, and so on.
As far as the approach that Justin’s team is taking this era, more than half of it is actually the OPPOSITE of what I critized in my video and that is good news. It means they learned a thing or two from all the fans’ criticism.
A more in-depth look on “Established Artists”
Going back to the established artist argument, there are levels. For example, both Justin and Selena Gomez come with huge fan bases but are they on the same level? Hell no and hell no again to the stans that think they’re comparable.
If I were to make a mini established artist pyramid it will look something like this.
Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston
Beyonce, Rihanna
Justin, Taylor Swift
Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande
Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez
The artists that are on the “same” level are actually somewhat comparable in fame/charts/success/sales, the whole thing.
I bring Selena into the mix because I’m actually a huge fan of how her rollouts go. I talk about it all the time—her team is genius. All the marketing with Rare Beauty? Amazing. The rollout for Lose You To Love Me and Rare? Impeccable.
For example, Demi is on Selena’s same level and yet she doesn’t come with all the amazing rollouts. So how does Selena stay on a level like that when she has top tier rollouts?
Personal factors… talent factors… so much can go into it.
These levels are actually what’s discussed when PR contracts are formed. Take Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello for example. I’d say Camila is a #6 and Shawn is a #5.5 inching towards level #4.
Keep in mind that this is my personal assessment and that’s based on A. facts lol and B. how these celebrities are geuninely assessed in the industry.
And if you want to take that turn, this is how they are assessed in terms of Dark Hollywood as well.
I’m telling you, celebrities are PRODUCTS and therefore they are treated as products. The industry doesn’t treat them like human beings and to be honest… neither do a lot of stans especially those on Twitter.
So let’s wrap it up!
Give Justin’s team some pointers on how to properly promote an established artist like Justin down in the comments below. Like I told you, they read! And so does Justin, hi sweetie drop some Changes 2021 tour tickets in my mailbox.
What did you think of the video and all the pointers I made about what went wrong in that era? Are there any other pointers? Do you disagree/agree with some?
Did you enjoy this type of post?
Let me know! I always read the comments even if you’re dragging us! You can comment anonymously so take advantage of that!
Expect a posting schedule and ASK BOX very soon ;)