Between Martin Luther King and Hailey, we had to choose.
In
Justice,
his latest album released last week, Justin Bieber samples excerpts from the speeches of the black pastor.
A strange choice to say the least in this syrupy new opus, largely dedicated to the young wife of the Canadian singer.
If Bernice King, the daughter of the anti-racist activist murdered in 1968, hailed the initiative, the result is far from pleasing to everyone.
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In February, Justin Bieber announced that his next production would be marked by the tense political context in the United States.
“
I know I can't solve injustice by making music,”
he wrote.
But I know that if we all do our part by using our talents to serve this planet and help each other, we give each other a better chance to be united. ”
On March 18, on the eve of the release of his album, the singer announced his support for several organizations helping the needy.
Organizations representing, according to him,
"what justice looks like when it is implemented"
.
Among the lucky beneficiaries, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center.
The attention did not fail to please Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King and director of the center.
“Each of us, including artists and actors in the entertainment world, can do something.
Thank you Justin Bieber for your support, in honor of
Justice
, for the work of the Martin Luther King Jr Center and our #BeLove campaign, which is part of our global movement for justice.
#FinishWithRacism, ”
she tweeted.
Read also: Racial justice: Martin Luther King's daughter calls on Americans to continue the fight
The promise of an album calling for justice quickly flew to listening.
The vast majority of the new tracks are sweet and honeyed ballads, addressed to Hailey Baldwin Bieber, a twenty-four-year-old model and wife of the singer since 2018. In the first track, Martin Luther King argues that
"an injustice committed somewhere is a threat to justice all over the world ”
.
A declaration of love follows, appropriately baptized
2 Much
, which is far removed from the pastor's intention.
Apart from a track, called
MLK Interlude
, which reproduces a 1967 sermon, questions of justice and defense of rights are quite absent from the album.
The result surprised many people, starting with American producer and screenwriter Kirk A. Moorek.
“So many people have tried to access Martin Luther King's speeches.
So few have had this chance.
Maybe it was different with the music, but I don't like that.
And divert his speech in this way… it's no, ”
he denounced on Twitter.
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Most Internet users are not necessarily more tender about the use of these samples.
“I love Bieber's album although I still don't understand why it's called
Justice
, or what MLK is doing in it,” one
wrote.
“Justin Bieber really put MLK right in the middle of his album for no reason.
It's a really big joke, ”
another lashed.
Even the American magazine
Entertainment Weekly
, rather laudatory in its criticism, underlines how much the words of Martin Luther King have no place in this album which recalls the soundtracks of
Midnight Express
,
Flashdance
or
Top Gun
signed Moroder.
"
Good luck making the connection between a two-minute interlude in which Martin Luther King Jr. is heard speaking about truth and power in a 1968 speech and the Giorgio Moroder-like sound effects of
Die For You
, the song that follows . "
New blunder, therefore for Justin Bieber, already accused of plagiarism by the French electro duo Justice.
Indeed, the Parisians reproached the artist for having been - strongly - inspired by their
"T"
in the shape of a crucifix on the cover of his new album, even making him send a letter of formal notice.
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