What is a Justin Bieber?

For the past few days, The Today Show has been talking about Justin Bieber. Apparently, this Bieber person was coming to Rockefeller Plaza to put on a concert today. The cameras panned the sidewalks around the plaza to show tween and teen girls camped out with their perturbed-looking fathers just so they could be sure they got into the concert.

Perhaps I've been living under a rock (or I just have good taste in music), but I've never heard of this Justin Bieber person. I caught my first glimpse of him on this morning's edition of The Today Show, being interviewed by Matt Lauer. This kid is like 12 years old. And he has a bowl cut. A bad one at that. In his interview, he compared himself to the likes of Justin Timberlake and Usher. And then he disclosed that Usher bought him a Range Rover for his 16th birthday. WTF?!? Apparently the kid has driven it only once, and his mom had to be in the car with him because he only has a permit. Lame!

So, of course I had to to Google this Justin Bieber. I had no idea what songs he sings. And then I heard snippets of four of his songs. Oh. My. God. How is this kid such a sensation? He has NOTHING on New Kids on the Block, N' Sync, Back Street Boys, Justin Timberlake, or Usher. Yet dumb girls camp out for TWO nights - in the rain - to see this kid perform.

Perhaps what was most disconcerting is that when I was listening to the bits of Bieber's songs, the daughter was rocking out. She did some kind of version of the robot - no joke. This child has been raised with good music, yet she responded so positively to this teeny-bopper crap.

Sigh.

I guess what's most important is knowing that if you get in with Usher, you could get a Range Rover. I need to work on that.