Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

To be fair, as a twenty-something bloke, I can't exactly be said to be Justin Bieber's target audience. But even though his new-found 'mature' angle is to be expected and even celebrated (it happens to every teen star at some point), I'm not sure Boyfriend it quite the right song for him to make his big move into the adult world with.

For starters, it's *SO* Justin Timberlake it's uncanny. With it's strummed acoustic riffing and cod-sensual whispered intro, it not only sounds like an almost entirely different artist from the Justin Bieber of old, but it also sounds like an aping of old trends. It takes JB out of the nice, comfortable pedestal he's set himself up on and tries to push him - perhaps too swiftly - into this 'serious' R&B loverman aesthetic.

Boyfriend sounds about ten years out of date, and while I'm sure it'll send hordes of Bieber fans into shuddering teenage ecstasy, musically speaking, it's just not good enough. To think, with Bieber's level of success, he could have his pick of songwriters and producers; Boyfriend is a pale shadow of the record he could have released.