Tom: Oh crikey, is this the Apology Track off the Apology Album?
Tim: Well, look. Now, I detest the entire concept of guilty pleasures. As far as I’m concerned, people should be free to like whatever the hell they like and not care what other people think. Nonetheless, I am JUDGING MYSELF and I DO NOT LIKE ME for really, really liking this song.
Tom: A video that doesn’t star him. That’s an interesting choice, certainly. Why do you like it, so much?
Tim: It’s a number of things, really: partly it’s the “oo-oo-oo-oo-o-ooh” in the background that just won’t leave my head; partly it’s the catchy, melodic and memorable chorus; it may also be that I’ve recently started thinking of him a whole lot more favourably after reading this i-D interview and watching his Carpool Karaoke.
Tom: People do change, that’s true: perhaps he has grown up.
Tim: I was never a Bieber-hater, mind—much as he was a total bellend for a good amount of time, who wouldn’t be after the controlled and manufactured teenage life he had?—but suddenly I think of him as an actual person, and now this song has some emotional depth to it. Is it just that I’ve heard it so much that it’s penetrated my head and won’t leave? Possibly, but I think it’s more that’s a really good song, really well-performed.
Tom: Hmm. It’s okay, I guess? But I suspect his PR machine’s worked better on you than it has on me: yes, that oo-oo-ooh is good, but I just don’t find it all that catchy. It’s not together enough, it’s not “full” enough, it’s not… enough. Just like the apology, I guess.
Tim: Basically, in summation: I don’t like the genre, I’ve not liked any of his previous tracks, but dammit, I really, really like this.