Justin Bieber may be getting tired of being a sock puppet. His 19th birthday would be a wake up call if he could see past the trees in his forest made up of bodyguards and publicists. Bieber is on the road, touring in the UK, and he’s alone. He was alone on his 19th birthday. He sent out a sad little Tweet just before, reminding people– especially manager Scooter Braun– that it was his birthday was coming up–tweeting ittle reminders in case anyone in his camp back home had forgotten. Early in the day he wrote “Big night ahead…Gonna be fun tonight.” But this was the result after all that:
Worst birthday
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) March 2, 2013
How can you not feel bad for this kid? No family, no education, a teen life that’s been spent making money for other people. Now he turns 19, and his posse–lots of security–gets thrown out of a London club. By all accounts they wind up at McDonalds. Where’s the party? Where’s the mother? (She Tweeted a hello.) Where’s the manager, who’s made millions and millions? Braun is in LA. He Tweets:
Spoke to the kid and wished him happy bday. He is gonna go hard tonight and well deserved. @justinbieber enjoy your day! Happy 19th Bday!!
— Scooter Braun (@scooterbraun) March 1, 2013
When I saw that, I thought of Colonel Parker, who never left Elvis’s side. Brian Epstein, who went everywhere with the Beatles. Frank DiLeo with Michael Jackson. All the managers I’ve ever met on the road with their superstar clients. Troy Carter with Lady Gaga. Michael Lippman with Rob Thomas, matchbox twenty, etc. Kathy Schenker with Sting. These managers stick like glue to their artists.
And Bieber is generating bundles of cash at a very young age. Leaving him alone, especially on a birthday, seems odd. Bieber and Braun rarely seem to be in the same city together. Followers of Braun’s Twitter account go with him all over the world- skiing, at world seminars, raising money for his charity. The one Tweet he never seems to send out is: “Backstage with Justin Bieber.”
Braun is obviously successful– and busy now that he’s taken on a bunch of other pop acts including Tori Kelly. He also has a huge interest in his Pencils of Promise charity– which is to be applauded. Bieber travels with a childhood friend, Ryan Butler, and lots of people to protect him. But pictures from his birthday that came out in British papers were, again, sad. This scrawny little kid, trying to put on muscles, adding tattoos, wearing Ann Murray’s hair cut from 1978. Is this a life? Something tells me that in five years we’re going to hear that he was alone, had no childhood, etc. It’s an old song, but Bieber’s going to singing it by 2019.
