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Justin Bieber · S1 E3
YouTube
Pattie films her son singing Ne-Yo covers on a cheap camera. She posts them so the family can watch
The view count on Justin Bieber's YouTube cover of Ne-Yo's "So Sick" ticks past ten thousand, and Pattie Mallette has no idea how. She uploaded it for his grandparents.
"One Less Lonely Girl" (Justin Bieber, official music video, 2009). This is what the kid in those grainy YouTube covers was capable of when he finally got a studio and a production team. The charm that made strangers stop scrolling is the same charm that carries this song.
One Less Lonely Girl, Justin Bieber (2009)
"One Less Lonely Girl" was co-written by Ezekiel Lewis and Balewa Muhammad, and the production is deliberately gentle: acoustic guitars, soft percussion, strings that swell without overpowering. Listen for how Justin handles the key change near the end. Most fifteen-year-olds would strain or oversing it. Justin glides through like he's been doing this forever, because in a way, he has.
Sources
Bieber, Justin. "First Step 2 Forever: My Story." HarperCollins, 2010.
“I started putting his videos on YouTube so his grandparents could see him sing. I had no plan. I definitely didn't expect thousands of strangers to find them.”
— Pattie Mallette, paraphrased from "Nowhere but Up" (Revell, 2012)
The Channel
Pattie creates a YouTube channel called "kidrauhl" in 2007. The original idea is simple: upload Justin's performances so family who can't attend can still watch. She films him on a cheap camera in their apartment, at the Stratford Star competition, and busking outside the Avon Theatre.
Sources
Mallette, Pattie. "Nowhere but Up." Revell, 2012.
Bieber, Justin. "First Step 2 Forever: My Story." HarperCollins, 2010.
TAP TO REVEAL: Which cover song started getting Justin noticed by strangers online?
The Strangers
The comments start changing. At first it's family and friends. Then people from cities Pattie has never visited start writing "who IS this kid?" The links keep getting shared, and the view counts keep climbing without anyone asking them to.
Sources
Mallette, Pattie. "Nowhere but Up." Revell, 2012.
kidrauhl: The Numbers
Common Denominator, Justin Bieber (2009)
"Common Denominator" is a bonus track on My World that most casual fans skip. Don't. It's one of the purest recordings of young Justin's voice: no heavy production, no features, just the kid from the YouTube videos proving he can carry a song on his own. After hearing about the bedroom webcam and the covers, this track sounds like the studio version of exactly that.
Common Denominator, Justin Bieber (2009)
"You're my number one, that's a fact." The lyrics are simple and direct, the way a fourteen-year-old writes when he hasn't learned to overthink it yet. Read them knowing this was recorded just months after those YouTube covers, and you'll hear the same kid: no filter, no distance, just saying what he means.
What songs did Justin cover on his early YouTube videos that attracted thousands of strangers?
In 2008, a music manager in Atlanta is browsing YouTube looking for a completely different artist. He accidentally clicks on a video of a kid from Stratford, and he watches it twice.
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