Justin Bieber has been nominated for a Black Entertainment Television award in the category of Best New Artist. Justin Bieber. The white teenage pop singer with the aerodynamic hair.
Does that seem like a weird choice?
I’m not in any way suggesting that white people should not be nominated for BET Awards (in the spirit of music being an artform that knows no race, colour or creed blah blah) and whiteys like Justin Timberlake and Eminem have been nominated before; but do you think Bieber has the same kind of cross over appeal that those two do to be considered the best new artist in black entertainment?
Yes:
Awards organisers said, “Justin Bieber has crossed the color boundaries in the way hip-hop has the other way for a number of years”, and Stephen Hill, BET head of programming, praised the 16-year-old for the “rhythm in his music… He makes the type of music our audience likes.”
That rhythm IS pretty sweet.
Fascinated to hear your thoughts on this one, so please comment away.
Title Image by Stephen Dunn via Getty
