Album: My World 2.0
Release Date: March 19, 2010
Release Date: March 19, 2010
And now, here's the conclusion to my review of Justin Bieber's second music release, My World 2.0.
Track 9 is "Up." You always want your strongest songs to be released as singles. And I wonder if record company's ever struggle with if they should release a slower song for a single. Because slower songs, depending on how they sound, might not catch on. Now, obviously, that's not always the case. But we usually see the more upbeat songs promoted. I mean, just look at Justin. His more upbeat songs were singles ("Baby," "Somebody to Love,"). But then there's also "U Smile."
But sometimes amongst all the slower non-singles, you can find some pretty special songs. And "Up" may be one of them. It's definitely a slower song; I'm not sure if it would be considered a ballad or not, but anyway. To me at least, it's a very understated song. But it's that understatement that makes this song have meaning on My World 2.0. "It's a big, big world" is one of the standout moments, musically. And I think it's actually the start of the chorus, "Nowhere but up, from here, my dear," that has something about it that I can't quite put my finger on. Actually, these parts may in fact be the most mellow and understated parts of the song. They glide right through with fluidity.
Track 9 is "Up." You always want your strongest songs to be released as singles. And I wonder if record company's ever struggle with if they should release a slower song for a single. Because slower songs, depending on how they sound, might not catch on. Now, obviously, that's not always the case. But we usually see the more upbeat songs promoted. I mean, just look at Justin. His more upbeat songs were singles ("Baby," "Somebody to Love,"). But then there's also "U Smile."
But sometimes amongst all the slower non-singles, you can find some pretty special songs. And "Up" may be one of them. It's definitely a slower song; I'm not sure if it would be considered a ballad or not, but anyway. To me at least, it's a very understated song. But it's that understatement that makes this song have meaning on My World 2.0. "It's a big, big world" is one of the standout moments, musically. And I think it's actually the start of the chorus, "Nowhere but up, from here, my dear," that has something about it that I can't quite put my finger on. Actually, these parts may in fact be the most mellow and understated parts of the song. They glide right through with fluidity.
The final song is "That Should Be Me." The feel of "Up" seems to be continuing on into this song. Sometimes on albums, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of thought put into the final track or two; it's almost like they decided to just put the weakest songs at the very end so we might not notice them as much. But I love when albums end on a high note. You want to start off the album on top and end at least near that same high. And "That Should Be Me" accomplishes that.
In my Part 1 Review, I said that before starting Bieber Guy, I had only previously heard three songs on this album before. But I guess I should bump up that number to four. Because I now realize that I have heard this song before, when he performed it as a duet with Rascal Flatts for a TV special. But I'll refrain from reviewing that duet for now, until I get to the Remixes release.
And while non-Bieber fans might roll their eyes at the story of the song, it's in the way that he sings it that makes it a brilliant song. The best example of that is in the latter half of the chorus. After he sings, "That should be me, holdin' your hand" etc., he repeats the title a couple of times in the middle. Then he really just goes all in and you can hear the strength and validity in his voice when he continues with "That should be me, feelin' your kiss" etc. There's much more of a vocal emphasis, almost like a pounding, on some of the words in that part of the chorus.
I can almost picture him singing this, watching a girl with another guy, and he stands there and puts all the emotion he can into the words and into his voice, pouring his heart out to the girl and telling her "That should be me."
That was the last track on the album. But there were two bonus songs released. The first is an iTunes bonus track called "Kiss and Tell." Musically and melodically, the strongest part of the song is at the start of the chorus: "Baby, I know that you cool with rockin' with me / But I can't have you tellin' everybody you got me all twisted." But outside of the chorus, it's more of a generic song. And for that, I can see why it didn't make the album.
The second is a Wal-Mart bonus song called "Where Are You Now." It's definitely the stronger song of the two. I actually wish they had included this on the standard release, because it's a beautiful song that really lets Justin show off his voice in a pure way without all the pumped up melodies. It's a very enjoyable listen. My favorite part, melody-wise is, "So take my hand and walk with me / Show me what to be / I need you to set me free." I've said this in previous reviews, but to those people out there who are very anti-Bieber, I would say to check out songs like this one, because if you strip everything away and just focus on the vocals, you will see that he can sing and does have good voice.
Just as with My World, My World 2.0 received generally positive reviews from critics. And it debuted on the charts at #1. Justin said that, "I wanted to do something that was a little bit more R&B and that could reach out to everyone. I just wanted to be able to show my vocal abilities." I agree with what he said there. There's R&B influences on the album, which gives it a lot of credibility. My favorite tracks are "Baby," "Somebody to Love," "U Smile," "Never Let You Go," "Up," and "That Should Be Me."
I graded each of the seven tracks based on the GPA grading system (i.e. A=4.0, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, etc). After averaging it out, the final grade was between 3.5 and 3.7 (just like it was with My World). So I'm going to round it up again, and give Justin Bieber's My World 2.0 an A-. Over the course of these two albums, I have been pleasantly surprised that his music is not strictly teen pop; there's heavy R&B influences, and he does a great job on ballads as well.
Just days after the album release, Sean Kingston released "Eenie Meenie" as his single. And a month later, Justin released "Somebody to Love" as his next single. So my next review will be an in-depth review of one of those two songs.
To stay updated on everything related to Bieber Guy and when the next blog and/or review will be online, follow me on Twitter @Bieber_Guy.
Bieber Guy My World Reviews: "One Time" (Updated) / "One Less Lonely Girl" / "Love Me" & "Favorite Girl" / My World EP
Bieber Guy My World 2.0 Reviews: "Baby" / "Never Let You Go" / My World 2.0 - Part 1 / My World 2.0 Part 2
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