Featured Image Credit: Cassy Athena/Getty Images
Topics: Justin Bieber, Music, Mental Health, Hailey Bieber
Jen Thomas
Topics: Justin Bieber, Music, Mental Health, Hailey Bieber
Justin Bieber has hit out at the music industry for treating him as a 'product' and is now pleading for change after 'what happened' to him.
The 'Boyfriend' star found fame when he was just 13 years old, after he was discovered singing on YouTube by Scooter Braun.
He was signed to a record label co-managed by Usher and Braun, called RGMB, before Island Records picked him up, with 'Baby' making him a household name at just 14.
Bieber has struggled with his mental health and substance abuse over the years, but has since settled as a husband to Hailey Bieber and they share a young son together.
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He has opened up about his experiences in the music industry, as he is calling for it to be made safer and 'more honest'.
The singer posted about his troubles on Instagram, and is praising his Christian faith, sharing psalms and scriptures as one of the things that pulled him through dark times.
In the social media post he wrote: "I grew up in a system that rewarded my gift but didn’t always protect my soul.
"There were moments I felt used, rushed, shaped into something I didn’t fully choose. That kind of pressure leaves wounds you don’t see on stage. I’ve carried anger, I’ve asked God why.
"But Jesus keeps meeting me in the middle of the pain – not excusing what hurt me but teaching me how not to become bitter."
In amongst religious references, the singer insisted he wasn't 'speaking as a victim still bleeding', but instead he is 'someone restored'.
He wrote: "Because I’m healed, I can forgive. Not to pretend injustice didn’t happen, but so it doesn’t keep living through me.
"I don’t want revenge. I want redemption. I don’t want to destroy the industry. I want it transformed.
"What happened to me was real but it doesn’t get the final word. Jesus didn’t help me cope, he restored my identity. I’m not a product. I’m not what the industry demanded. I’m a son."
He says he is now speaking out to 'make sure it doesn’t keep reproducing itself through him’.
"I don’t want to burn the music industry down. I want to see it made new – safer, more honest, more human,’ he insisted.
Back in 2019 he wrote about the realities of music and finding fame at a young age: "I went from a 13-year-old boy from a small town to being praised left and right by the world, with millions saying how much they loved me and how great I was.
"You hear these things enough as a young boy and you actually start believing it."
He also said he felt like a 'fraud' at times: "People told me my whole life ‘wow Justin u deserve that’ and I personally have always felt unworthy. Like I was a fraud.”
Justin also said he is less keen on touring now as he doesn't want to spend a long time away from Hailey and his son.