What Does Justin Bieber’s ‘Very Grammatically Incorrect’ Message ‘From the Heart’ Mean?
We investigate.
So by now, we all know Justin Bieber cancelled the remainder of his “Purpose” tour, breaking millions of teenage (and most likely, adult) hearts, everywhere.
Justin Bieber just cancelled the rest of his tour which included our show, and I've never been more devastated in my life
— Amaya Gunther (@amayagunther) July 25, 2017
After telling TMZ he pulled out of his remaining tour date for “rest and relaxation,” our favourite (or maybe second-fave) Canadian Justin has finally taken to his no-chill Instagram to provide a “VERY GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT,” “FROM THE HEART” explanation to his beloved Beliebers.
We mean, the entire thing is a copy editor’s dream (or nightmare, depending on how you look at it). But beneath the lack of punctuation and emphasis via capitalization a la Kanye West, there seems to be some deeper meaning to Bieber’s message. So, we (as in FASHION’s features editor, Greg Hudson and writers Madelyn Chung and Meghan McKenna) decided to dissect this little note for your (and our own) enjoyment.
Read on below to see what we had to say:
Madelyn Chung: OK first off, WHAT IS UP with the double punctuation? I mean, I sometimes put a “?!” beside each other to prove a point, but a period and an exclamation mark together? Or a period and multiple exclamation marks? Just doesn’t make sense.
Meghan McKenna: Also, is it appropriate to end “I let bitterness, jealousy and fear run my life” with four exclamation marks? WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING AT US?!?!?
MC: He’s really trying to his point across, and trying to get us to ~*sympathize*~. And I mean, truly, when you’re typing “FROM THE HEART,” who the hell cares about grammar and spelling?! But my real question is… did he type this while waiting for someone to answer his FaceTime call?
MM: Do you know what I respect? That Bieber is learning from his mistakes. Just take a look at this line: “Im VERY aware I’m never gonna be perfect, and I’m gonna keep making mistakes but what I’m not gonna do is let my past dictate my future.” He’s learning already! See how halfway through the sentence he finally learned how to close contractions with an apostrophe? That’s real progress.
MC: And I also am impressed at how well he’s gotten the concept of gratitude. “Im so grateful for this journey with all of you.. Im grateful for the tours but most of all I am grateful i get to go through this life WITH YOU.!” It’s pretty impressive. I think Hillsong Church has really done a number on him. WE SHOULD JUST ALL GO TO HILLSONG AND FEEL BLESSED AND GRATEFUL ENOUGH TO NOT EVEN CARE ABOUT OUR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR!
MM: Wait what if these are actually just the lyrics to his new song?
MC: OMG, brilliant. From “Sorry” to “Grateful.” And THAT, everyone is the key to Bieber’s “sustainability.” At least as a public figure… any time this kid f*cks up, he somehow manages to pull at everyone’s heartstrings and market himself back into the good books (for the most part). I don’t know how that’ll work out when he becomes “the husband I eventually want to be and the father I want to be,” but hey, let’s just be thankful we’re not there yet.
Greg Hudson: Wanted to jump here, briefly, because you mentioned one of my favourite parts. Did you notice the subtle fear of commitment that crept into that bit? Note: “So that I can be the man I want to be, the husband I eventually want to be and the father I want to be.” To recap: he wants to be a man. He wants to be a father. But a husband? He’ll get to that eventually.
But see, that’s me letting his past mistakes try to predict his future. He’s not going to do that anymore, and I shouldn’t either.
MM: Wow that was deep. Bieber has so many layers once we start to peel them back.
GH: How much do you want to bet that he recently heard a sermon that used the term “Sustainable?” Only, it was used in a counterintuitive way, making some mind blowing connection between renewable resources and, like, faith or something. Only, Bieber only kind of remembered it. He’s looking into naturally sourced, organic, fair trade hearts, souls, and minds. Because he remembers something about that and sustainability.
MC: Can you imagine what the church of Bieber would be like? Would sermons be like this message?
MM: Spoken in capital letters and run on sentences. I just imagine him shout preaching at a group 15 year old girls.
MC: Shout *lip synch* preaching, you mean. But wait — what if he didn’t actually write this. What if the grammar mistakes are part of a ploy to make us believe these are Bieber’s words, when in fact, it could just be his publicists and marketing team writing it for him?
MM: Imagine that. Being so stupid your PR people have to write “VERY GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT” to be beliebable.
GH: It’s not that Bieber would be stupid in that scenario. It’s that Beliebers expect a certain degree of IMPERFECTIONS in his writing. Bieber is secretly a genius — after all, he’s not letting his past mistakes (grammatical or otherwise) dictate his future. But, if he laid down a metaphysical treatise on salvation and sustainability, then people wouldn’t belieb he wrote it.
In all honesty, I think there is too much here to unpack. We haven’t even scratched the surface. We’re just starting to ask, “What do you mean?” And to answer that, we’re going to have to take some time. Come back for more analysis.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://fashionmagazine.com/flare/celebrity/justin-bieber-explains-tour-cancellation/&title=What Does Justin Bieber’s ‘Very Grammatically Incorrect’ Message ‘From the Heart’ Mean?&picture=https://fashionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/justin-bieber.png&description=So by now, we all know Justin Bieber cancelled the remainder of his "Purpose" tour, breaking millions of teenage (and most likely, adult) hearts, everywhere.
https://twitter.com/amayagunther/status/889811840208965638
After telling TMZ he pulled out of his remaining tour date for "rest and relaxation," our favourite (or maybe second-fave) Canadian Justin has finally taken to his no-chill Instagram to provide a "VERY GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT," "FROM THE HEART" explanation to his beloved Beliebers.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXT34NdDgbi/?taken-by=justinbieber
We mean, the entire thing is a copy editor's dream (or nightmare, depending on how you look at it). But beneath the lack of punctuation and emphasis via capitalization a la Kanye West, there seems to be some deeper meaning to Bieber's message. So, we (as in FASHION's features editor, Greg Hudson and writers Madelyn Chung and Meghan McKenna) decided to dissect this little note for your (and our own) enjoyment.
Read on below to see what we had to say:
Madelyn Chung: OK first off, WHAT IS UP with the double punctuation? I mean, I sometimes put a “?!” beside each other to prove a point, but a period and an exclamation mark together? Or a period and multiple exclamation marks? Just doesn’t make sense.
Meghan McKenna: Also, is it appropriate to end “I let bitterness, jealousy and fear run my life” with four exclamation marks? WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING AT US?!?!?
MC: He’s really trying to his point across, and trying to get us to ~*sympathize*~. And I mean, truly, when you’re typing “FROM THE HEART,” who the hell cares about grammar and spelling?! But my real question is… did he type this while waiting for someone to answer his FaceTime call?
MM: Do you know what I respect? That Bieber is learning from his mistakes. Just take a look at this line: “Im VERY aware I’m never gonna be perfect, and I’m gonna keep making mistakes but what I’m not gonna do is let my past dictate my future.” He’s learning already! See how halfway through the sentence he finally learned how to close contractions with an apostrophe? That’s real progress.
MC: And I also am impressed at how well he’s gotten the concept of gratitude. “Im so grateful for this journey with all of you.. Im grateful for the tours but most of all I am grateful i get to go through this life WITH YOU.!” It’s pretty impressive. I think Hillsong Church has really done a number on him. WE SHOULD JUST ALL GO TO HILLSONG AND FEEL BLESSED AND GRATEFUL ENOUGH TO NOT EVEN CARE ABOUT OUR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR!
MM: Wait what if these are actually just the lyrics to his new song?
MC: OMG, brilliant. From “Sorry” to “Grateful.” And THAT, everyone is the key to Bieber’s “sustainability.” At least as a public figure… any time this kid f*cks up, he somehow manages to pull at everyone’s heartstrings and market himself back into the good books (for the most part). I don’t know how that’ll work out when he becomes “the husband I eventually want to be and the father I want to be,” but hey, let’s just be thankful we’re not there yet.
Greg Hudson: Wanted to jump here, briefly, because you mentioned one of my favourite parts. Did you notice the subtle fear of commitment that crept into that bit? Note: “So that I can be the man I want to be, the husband I eventually want to be and the father I want to be.” To recap: he wants to be a man. He wants to be a father. But a husband? He’ll get to that eventually.
But see, that’s me letting his past mistakes try to predict his future. He’s not going to do that anymore, and I shouldn’t either.
MM: Wow that was deep. Bieber has so many layers once we start to peel them back.
GH: How much do you want to bet that he recently heard a sermon that used the term “Sustainable?” Only, it was used in a counterintuitive way, making some mind blowing connection between renewable resources and, like, faith or something. Only, Bieber only kind of remembered it. He’s looking into naturally sourced, organic, fair trade hearts, souls, and minds. Because he remembers something about that and sustainability.
MC: Can you imagine what the church of Bieber would be like? Would sermons be like this message?
MM: Spoken in capital letters and run on sentences. I just imagine him shout preaching at a group 15 year old girls.
MC: Shout *lip synch* preaching, you mean. But wait — what if he didn’t actually write this. What if the grammar mistakes are part of a ploy to make us believe these are Bieber’s words, when in fact, it could just be his publicists and marketing team writing it for him?
MM: Imagine that. Being so stupid your PR people have to write “VERY GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT” to be beliebable.
GH: It’s not that Bieber would be stupid in that scenario. It’s that Beliebers expect a certain degree of IMPERFECTIONS in his writing. Bieber is secretly a genius -- after all, he’s not letting his past mistakes (grammatical or otherwise) dictate his future. But, if he laid down a metaphysical treatise on salvation and sustainability, then people wouldn’t belieb he wrote it.
In all honesty, I think there is too much here to unpack. We haven't even scratched the surface. We're just starting to ask, "What do you mean?" And to answer that, we're going to have to take some time. Come back for more analysis.){kind=link}