Justin Bieber: Pop’s good boy tries growing up

His first full-length album,My World 2.0,was R&B at its core,only occasionally deviating from theme. But the rise of pummeling dance music as a mainstream esthetic leaves Bieber,whose voice is sweet but not rickety,in an awkward position.

It’s telling that All Around the World,the first song on Believe,opens with a synth progression that could have been lifted straight from an Afrojack or Laidback Luke production. And this on a song that features Ludacris. Again,Bieber is buried in the mix,and it appears the album might get away from him in a swell of concessions. But that’s followed by Boyfriend,the first single,which shifts gears radically. Spooky and minimal,it’s his formal coming-out party as an adult. Erotic and also cheerily naive,it was the perfect statement for a young man learning to behave like a grown-up in the public eye,making for one of this year’s most electrifying singles.

But there are several places on this album where Bieber leans on his instincts,spotlighting his best self. Believe is a king-size ballad where he sings unfettered: There were days when I was just broken,you know/ There were nights when I was doubting myself/ But you kept my heart from folding. That’s matched in intensity by the sun-dappled teen-crush soul of Catching Feelings and Be Alright,a guitar-driven number that recalls the Tony Rich Project,the underappreciated neo-soul classicist of the mid-1990s.

These are this album’s high points.This album’s most dance-oriented and least successful moments illustrate just how hard it is for one artist,even one with the impact of Bieber,to shape the sound of pop music alone. He’s a big wave,but he’s not the whole ocean. And besides,the real experimentation and innovation is happening on the female side of pop,in the music of Katy Perry and Rihanna.

The recent resurgence of boy bands notwithstanding,it remains an extraordinarily starved environment for young male pop stars. Bieber has the turf almost wholly to himself. Granted,a certain per cent of his appeal comes down to pure hormones; he could release a country-meets-trance album and not alienate many of the young,female fans who are lining up to buy his posters and his fragrances too. But the screams are so loud they virtually block out the singing altogether.