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Justin Bieber's Potential

Bryan Bedder

The beat for "Boyfriend" aside, Believe does not mark Bieber's Timberlakian ascent from preteen-pop to critical credibility, but it's getting there. As anyone who watched the non-concert scenes of Never Say Never knows, the kid has serious musical chops and he's still only 18. Plus, his very first foray into the business side of music was discovering "Call Me Maybe" by fellow small-town Canadian, Carly Rae Jepsen. So that seemed to work out.