Justin Bieber, Eminem and the Music of Fathers

15 years ago, Justin Bieber released his first official music video, One Time. At that time, Justin's voice had not yet broken.

Justin Bieber (left) and Eminem - Photo: Rolling Stones

A 15 year old boy with a pretty baby face, sitting playing video games, singing a very innocent song about school love.

Justin Bieber's Swag

Over the past 15 years, we've watched Justin grow up, fall down countless times, and get back up just as many times - we've seen every aspect of his personal life like a reality TV show, we've been bombarded with rumors about him through his and his wife's personal Instagrams. But how much do we really know about him?

Last week Justin Bieber unexpectedly released a new album, without any prior promotion or even announcement. No pre-release single.

He suddenly released Swag after a four-year absence, his seventh studio album, without any trace of the pop prince, not even catchy melodies, addictive choruses.

SWAG

The lo-fi, acoustic sound that runs throughout the album evokes the image of a married man, diligently making music in his spare time when he's not looking after a newborn baby. There's a song on the album called Dadz love, which is a play on the word "father".

And all the songs, even though they don't directly talk about fatherhood, exude the energy of a father, with very family feelings: the desire to come home to laugh and sing a few songs, to stay up late watching a favorite show together; hours of prayer; the desire to become the spiritual support of his partner...

It's a fairly underwhelming album, to be sure. But it does make you feel like there's more to the man than his social media posts or the never-ending rumors about his family.

Audiences may criticize Swag's album for not being appealing enough, but it seems that the album was made so that one day, his children will grow up and know who their father really was, outside of society's interpretations.

To Temporary by Eminem

Around this time last year, Eminem returned with a studio album after a four-year hiatus, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), which included Temporary, perhaps one of the most tender songs the rapper has ever released in his career. Tender, of course, because Temporary is dedicated to his daughter.

Its MV: pictures of the baby girl from birth to old footage of her learning to walk, to footage of her growing up, becoming a young girl, then a woman, becoming a bride, becoming a mother, walking down the aisle.

Eminem wants his daughter to listen to Temporary after he dies: "Many people ask me if I'm afraid of dying? The truth is, what I'm most afraid of is not being able to tell you everything I want to say."

Eminem - Temporary

When watching that MV, we suddenly realize that Eminem has aged a lot, at least old enough to be a father walking his daughter down the aisle to get married, and so death and separation are also vague topics in his vision.

The Slim Shady persona he created first appeared in 1997, and since then, nearly 30 years have passed. The idol of our youth who once made us scream has gradually become a husband, a father, and even a grandfather.

Justin Bieber or Eminem, they are like us, getting older. And although we may initially love them for their energy, their flamboyance, their cuteness or their edginess, they will also go through the noise to calm down, because of age, because of experience, because they have gone through many phases of illusion and also because they have become men.

Hien Trang

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/justin-bieber-eminem-va-am-nhac-cua-nhung-nguoi-cha-20250721092033405.htm