8 minute read
Changed- Chloe Houwman
from March Issue 2020
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BIEBER’S NEW BEGINNING
Canadian superstar Justin Bieber is back, but is he better than ever? Bieber has been in and out of the media’s eyes over the years, so it is di cult to gure out where he has been, and more importantly, what he has been doing.
Bieber’s rise to fame seemed to happen overnight. He was rst discovered through his YouTube channel in 2008 by Scooter Braun, a party promoter who happened to come across Bieber’s channel. Within a week of being discovered, Bieber was own down to Atlanta. From there, his career skyrocketed. Over the next year, Bieber would release his debut album “My World,” which was a hit among teenage girls. When the album was rst released, 137,000 copies were sold within a week, according to Billboard. From that point forward the world would know the name, Justin Bieber.
His launch into the music industry proved to be a lot of pressure for a young kid to handle, and over the next 12 years, Bieber would have many highs and lows in his personal life and professional career. by Chloe Houwman
In 2010, Bieber released his second album “My World 2.0,” an extension of his original album which is considered the second part. is album went platinum and reached over 3,300,000 album sales and rose to the top of Billboard 200, a list of the top 200 albums in the United States for that given week, in April of 2010. Bieber also went on his rst tour to promote the album, which continued into 2011.
Bieber released his rst lm at the beginning of 2011, “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” which is a documentary of Bieber’s life on and o the stage. Exceeding expectations, the lm grossed $12.3 million the day it was released, according to UPROXX. Over the next few years, Bieber would release his second, third and fourth albums: “Under the Mistletoe” (2011), “Believe” (2012) and “Purpose” (2015). Bieber’s previous album, “Purpose” went on tour in March of 2016. e tour came to an abrupt end in July of 2017 when Bieber canceled the rest of his concerts. According to e Guardian, Bieber said that he needed rest and relaxation to become the man he wanted to be. Bieber’s music and relationships were not the only things that caught the media’s attention; he was also getting in trouble with the law. Bieber’s rst run-in with the law occurred in 2012. According to Teen Vogue, he was pulled over for going 80 mph trying to escape the paparazzi’s attention. is would be the rst of Bieber’s many encounters with law enforcement. He was also arrested for drag racing and driving under the in uence on Miami roads in 2013. Bieber’s encounters with the law continued until the end of 2014. Bieber has been in a few serious and media popular relationships. Bieber’s rst public relationship was acknowledged in 2010. He and actress and singer Selena Gomez would be known for their on again o again relationship that existed until the beginning of 2018. It is rumored that Gomez’s new album “Rare” is about Bieber, but Gomez has yet to comment on who exactly it is about or if it is even about anyone. More recently though, Bieber’s marriage to the American model, Hailey Baldwin, has been front and center in the media’s eye. Bieber and Baldwin met in 2009 a er an introduction from Baldwin’s father. e two were friends for years until they o cially started dating in 2016. Bieber and Baldwin were not exclusive and their relationship ended a few months later. A er time apart, the two were engaged in July of 2018 and married in November of the same year. eir ‘quickie’ marriage was not the ceremony that Baldwin had wanted, and in September of 2019, the two held a ceremony in South Carolina.
Although Bieber had many personal developments throughout his teenage years, that did not stop him from continuing his musical career. Before Bieber released his newest album, he was a part of many collaborations, featured in many hit songs and launched a
“Justin Bieber still doesn’t really get the credit he’s earned. The string of celebrity relationships, the bad-boy behavior, the tattoos and ever-evolving hairstyles and hues — all these things have had a tendency to distract from the obvious, which is: That boy can sing.” - Jeremy “Justin Bieber still doesn’t really get the credit he’s earned. The string of celebrity relationships, the bad-boy behavior, the tattoos and everevolving hairstyles and hues — all these things have had a tendency to distract from the obvious, which is: That boy can sing.” - Jeremy Helligar of Variety
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HAILEY BIEBER’S INSTAGRAM
clothing brand. Some of the songs that he was featured in include: “Despacito”, “No Brainer”, “I Don’t Care” and “10,000 Hours.”
Bieber continued his own musical career when he released “Changes” in February of 2020. is album was the rst he had released in ve years, and according to Bieber’s website, the album debuted with over one million global sales and streaming units. It was also Bieber’s seventh album to reach number one on Billboard. e album featured many other famous artists: Travis Scott, Post Malone, Clever, Lil Dicky, Kehlani, Summer Walker and Quavo. One thing was made clear in the album- Bieber knows his limits. He has managed to stay true to his voice, but also to himself. e pitches that he can reach and the melodies in which he can create cease to amaze his listeners. is album was released on Valentine’s day, and it is nothing short of a love song to his wife. He praises her and shares his love for her in the best way he knows how: through music.
Although Andrew Yang has dropped out of the Democratic primary, the Freedom Dividend, which defined his candidacy, has not been forgotten. Universal Basic Income (UBI) was part of his proposed solution to softening the blow of unemployment as a result of automation in the coming years.
The argument backing this type of proposal is mostly related to pulling those who are in poverty out of it. The general idea behind Yang’s proposal is that people who would be receiving UBI would be provided some economic security knowing they would be getting $1,000 from the government each month.
Providing a financial floor would
by Spencer Wasmund and Hunter Hauck
promote a nationwide sense of economic security that would be a huge boost for the economy. There would be the potential for more people to start spending their money on consumer goods, starting small businesses and investing in other businesses.
However, the cons that come with a plan like this are extensive. Paying for it is the main concern for many people. Another issue that has been brought to light involves deciding who exactly would be eligible to receive this type of government assistance. Despite it being called “universal,” Yang’s UBI plan does not include every U.S. citizen. There are also concerns over the societal impacts that would come along with this plan. There is the potential that it actually ends up hurting the economy and employers more than it is benefitting the people. It could seemingly incentivize taking more time off from work, requiring employers everywhere to spend more money on hiring more people for the same amount of labor.
Yang’s plan to pay for UBI includes consolidating some welfare programs, applying a value-added tax (VAT) of 10%, using “new revenue” and taxing both top earners and pollution. The tax burden of this plan, however, has many people tentative to latch onto the
“Yang Gang” train, and understandably so. While these methods probably would be enough to pay for UBI, a VAT would ultimately increase the consumer price index — even though Yang’s VAT wouldn’t necessarily be applied to groceries or clothing according to Yang’s website. Critics of UBI would rather the government reduce its spending on social programs than increase revenue through taxes. Another one of the main arguments that Yang and many others with similar plans have used to support UBI is that it will help get rid of the stigma that comes with receiving government assistance since everyone would have it available to them. Although, allowing every U.S. citizen 18 and older access to $1,000 a month would cause a large amount of unnecessary government spending. Essentially everyone, whether or not they actually need it, would be accepting $1,000 a month at the expense of the taxpayers. This would require the government, if everything else is kept the same, to potentially spend another $3.96 trillion per year if every U.S. citizen were to accept the monthly check. That is almost eight times more than what is currently being spent on welfare programs each year, which is around $550 billion according to the Washington Post. Like many modern economic policies, the concept of UBI is superficially pleasant but internally illogical. As much as it sounds like an uplifting idea, it would likely be paired with subsequent inflation. Ultimately, due to the negatives of UBI, we cannot support it.
