All one needs is one home run which is easier said than done especially when some don’t even get to the ballpark, let alone get to bat. How Scooter Braun has got to be where he is today and scored his home run is by tagging an unknown kid named Justin Bieber discovered on YouTube is quite a story. Strangely, the story about how the Bieb was “discovered” by Usher has cooled whereas I never believed that slice of hype about the “bidding war” between Usher and Justin Timberlake to sign up the then-unknown Canadian kid.
Come on, Usher and Justin Timberlake trawling the net looking for new talent and both stumbled on Justin Bieber??? Puhleese. And Elvis is alive and Paul is dead.
The whole Usher/Bieber meeting is creepily corny and one has to wonder how and why and when the “endorsement” deal ended.
As for Scooter Braun, I think he was working for Jermaine Dupri’s company when I was at EMI and the powers-that-be brought JD into Virgin as a last ditch effort to see if his presence would stop then-girlfriend Janet Jackson leaving the label. It didn’t work, Dupri never fit into the white bread image of EMI, he and Jason Flom never got along and the hitless Janet Jackson left, anyway, after one fucking expensive music video for a really crappy song.
She and Dupri split up soon afterwards and remains hitless and away from the limelight other than when she gets embroiled in the monthly installment of the family feud for the Michael Jackson Estate. Hee hee, shamon, indeed. Funny to think that while all this Virgin/EMI/Dupri/Jason Flom/Janet Jackson was happening on the main stage, Scooter Braun was surfing YouTube and working on a management deal with Justin Bieber and his very weird Stage door mama.
Today, Braun has a slice of PSY, at least for all markets outside of the US which must mean that the Korean bloke is looked upon as more than the 21st Century Chubby Checker and a one hit wonder.
One thing I know is that- other than PSY being as K-Pop as I am German- he wants to perform in China. My main question here is whether he has enough material or if he is going to go Gangnam for 90 minutes. Seriously, if Mr PSY is ever going to tour, what would he perform? At least Chubby Checker had two quick hits- The Twist and, what else but Let’s Twist Again.
Right now, Mr PSY and whoever he has around him other than his cellist wife has been pictured with every major artist, he has danced his horsey dance everywhere, parodies of Gangnam Style are everywhere, he is almost single handedly holding up YouTube and possibly one thing missing being getting into a ring with Chris Brown and beating the crap outta the guy. In the meantime, he just smiles, does interviews and does his Horsey Dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tigG4j-7b4o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gablNoe8NE
With the Scooter Braun link, a duet with Justin Bieber must be on the cards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-ZBnusqDno
The Bieb and his raging hormones have been all over Victoria Secret models recently and the teeny weeny is known more for his private cavorting than any music. Without a hit real soon, he could end up being the new Lindsay Lohan or the old Sean and David Cassidy.Only in Hong Kong do teen idols last into their Fifties and Bieber Fever needs more than a new hairstyle and banging some models to keep temperatures rising. After all, those fans who grew up with the Bieb are also older and being a fan of an aging teen idol has become uncool.
And so we have Mr PSY who appeals to all age groups and all nationalities and is offering more Hope and Change than Obama ever did and has done more for the world singing together in perfect harmony than a Coca Cola commercial and the toothless United Nations.
The more I watch videos of PSY and especially where he’s being fawned upon by an America who don’t know quit what to make of him and thinks Gangnam Style is teeny K-Pop- it’s a TOTALLY different type of Club and Dance-influenced Korean Pop- simply ‘cos it’s from Korea and it’s an easy way to label the track and give the music media something to use as an hook, I see a somewhat shy yet suspicious Korean business- a stranger in a strange space in time, weighing everything up and looking at ways of making some big money outta this video gone viral.
If you’ve ever done business in Korea, you would have met many businessmen like Psy- very polite, American-educated and with enormous Korean pride. Psy or PSY is a businessman and if he hasn’t already, he would be owning the Trademark to Gangnam Style and which can lead to a merchandizing and fashion bonanza.
At his age, he is no overnight success in Korea. He now has the clout and investors and partners like Samsung to create, own and distribute a very diverse series of music-based properties.
Time will tell, but I can easily see him being the Simon Fuller of Asia and with both of these two very entrepreneurial gentlemen even doing business together and making what I like to call One World Music Entertainment. I could be very wrong but I cannot see Psy grabbing a ride to the Big Time with Scooter Braun. Perhaps Braun riding on Psy’s coat-tails, maybe. It’s nothing personal, it’s just business and Psy is no Bieb.
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