Tweens across the country are dropping like flies. The sudden swooning can only be traced back to hair-flipping heartthrob Justin Bieber.

Bieber asked fans Monday whether he could be their ‘Boyfriend’ with his newest single from his second album, ‘Believe.’

In the song Bieber croons, ‘If I was your man, I’d never leave you girl / I just want to love you and treat you right,’ proving his voice finally dropped. He even raps. This is a pretty big departure from the kid whose most thoughtful lyrics at one point were: ‘And I was like baby, baby, baby, oh.’

But the Biebs is a man now – he turned 18 a few weeks ago. His famous purple hoodie is nowhere to be found. Instead, he’s sporting a gray plaid button-down and a ‘Hey, girl, I’m legal now’ pout on the ‘Boyfriend’ single cover.

The barely legal pop star is at that very difficult stage in the evolution of child star. His strongest and most lucrative fan base isn’t ready for him to jump into adulthood. If he makes one too suggestive remark, he can quickly alienate the girls that made him famous.

Bieber is quickly losing his preteen crowd. They have a short attention span and will move on to some cuter 15-year-old with a sparkling falsetto soon. Bieber needs to start musically pleasing some older ladies.

It’s a hard time for Bieber and his management.

‘Boyfriend’ tightly walks the line between tween-friendly lyrics and college guy charm. He makes offers a mother would love, such as Buzz Lightyear-inspired trips around the world and fireside fondue.

The prince of pop also makes the same promises girls hear every Saturday night at college parties. Bieber’s got money to blow on one lucky lady and really wants her to remember his ‘swag, swag, swag.’ Plus, it only takes a week to be crowned his girlfriend.

Bieber noted his own change in musical direction. During an interview with Ryan Seacrest, the 18-year-old talked about his newest single. ‘It’s just something a little bit more mature, but it’s also something I think I’m ready for,’ he said.

It is hoped the Biebs will take a page from fellow teen music sensation Justin Timberlake. Timberlake performed an almost seamless transition from J-14 cover boy to respectable entertainer – except for that one Super Bowl issue. N*Sync’s curly haired front man is now filming an early Oscar contender with Clint Eastwood.

The key to Timberlake’s success was he grew slowly. He first proved there was more to him than repeating the word ‘bye’ with sweet dance moves. He gave us subtly mature hits like ‘Cry Me a River.’ We all realized he was old enough to fall in love and to feel heartbreak. Timberlake gave us some foreplay going into the kinkfest that is ‘SexyBack.’

Stars like Timberlake and Bieber can’t go from candy-coated pop to ushering in the return of sexy in one night. They can’t just see what we’re twerkin’ with out of the gate. That makes everyone uncomfortable.

Although Bieber has to mature in front everyone and their moms, he’s going through universal growing pains. He’s figuring out his limits and his goals. He’s setting himself up for the future. And that’s something we can all identify with.

Ariana Romero is a sophomore magazine journalism and political science major. Her column appears every Thursday. She can be reached at akromero@syr.edu or followed on Twitter at @arianaromero17. 

Published on March 28, 2012 at 12:00 pm