The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 — 5

ALBUM REVIEW
Justin Bieber’s new 
aggressive apologies

‘Purpose’ is a good 
career strategy with 

a modern sound

By RACHEL KERR

Daily Arts Writer

On 
Friday, 
Justin 
Bieber 

released his fourth studio album, 
Purpose, to let us all know he’s 
really, 
really 

sorry for every-
thing 
he 
has 

done in the last 
couple of years: 
for the time he 
was detained on 
charges of driv-
ing under the 
influence 
and 

resisting arrest, for the whole 
vandalizing-his-neighbor’s-
house-with-eggs-and-causing-
$20,000-in-damage thing, for 
assaulting a limo driver in Toron-
to, for spitting on fans from a 
balcony and for, of course, aban-
doning his pet monkey in Munich 
(possibly his worst transgression 
to date).

But like he explains on the hit 

single “Sorry,” “you know that I 
try but I don’t do too well with 
apologies.” That’s evident on 
Purpose; it’s his attempted ret-
ribution narrative, rather than a 
well-curated collection of songs. 
Bieber asks his fans — and his 
ex-girlfriend and singer Selena 
Gomez — to forgive him, maybe 
with a little more aggression that 
we’d like.

The opening track, “Mark My 

Words,” begins Bieber’s apol-
ogy and promise to be better. 
“I’ll Show You” has the singer 
reminding us, “Don’t forget that 
I’m human / Don’t forget that I’m 
real.” On “No Pressure,” he takes 
responsibility for his actions, “I 
made a few mistakes / I did it 
to myself / I’m the only one to 
blame.” The unironically titled 
“Life Is Worth Living” addresses 
the scrutiny he’s faced, “They try 
to crucify me / I ain’t perfect, 
won’t deny / My reputation’s on 
the line / So I’m working on a 

better me.”

And his apology culminates on 

the final track, the album’s title 
track, “Purpose,” which ends 
with a minute-long monologue 
about his coming of age expe-
riences, “You can’t be hard on 
yourself for these were the cards 
that you were given, so you have 
to understand that these, like … 
that’s not who you are.”

Still, when Bieber’s on, he’s 

on. By modern-production stan-
dards, Purpose contains some 
outstanding tracks. With the 
help of household house music 
producer 
Skrillex, 
we 
for-

get about Bieber’s overeager 
redemptive narrative and just 
enjoy 
ourselves. 
Pre-released 

singles “What Do You Mean?” 
and “Sorry,” which follow each 
other successively, mark some 
of the most satisfying moments 
on the album. Despite the unin-
spired lyrics on “Where Are U 
Now” (“Where are you now that 
I need you? / Where are you now 
that I need you? / Where are you 
now that I need you?”) and “I’ll 

Show You” (“My life is a movie 
and everyone’s watching”), the 
synthesized dance beats boast 
Skrillex’s dominant presence on 
the album. “Mark My Words” 
offers a Bieber exposed, and “No 
Pressure” calls to mind Confes-
sions-era Usher, the more sultry 
sound highlighting Bieber’s raw 
vocal talent. 

But the cacophony of dif-

ferent genres feels a bit jar-
ring. The grotesquely insincere 
“Children” asks, “What about 
the children? / Look at all the 
children we can change / What 
about the vision?” before enter-
ing into a Skrillex-produced beat 
drop. On ballad “Life is Worth 
Living,” Bieber compares his 
love life to an avalanche — “Rela-
tionship on a ski slope” — almost 
immediately after tracks with 
Travi$ Scott and Big Sean fea-
tures; it feels unnatural. In the 
Ed Sheeran-written “Love Your-
self,” Bieber regresses back to 
his 2009 “Baby” sound, displac-
ing the album’s “look at me, I’m 
growing as a person!!” narrative.

Bieber may not be great with 

apologies, but this project proves 
it’s never too late to say sorry. 
And as far as career strategies 
go, this album is a damn good 
one. The singer may have slightly 
compromised his sound and his 
vocal abilities to fit the current 
dance club-driven music scene, 
but Purpose shows Bieber’s got 
just that again.

B-

Purpose

Justin Bieber

Def Jam

DEF JAM

“What do you mean that I left my monkey in Germany?!”

STAND-UP SPECIAL REVIEW
Maturing Mulaney

By MATT BARNAUSKAS

Daily Arts Writer

In the three years since John 

Mulaney’s last stand-up special, 
the 33-year-old entertainer has 
gotten 
mar-

ried, bought a 
house and cre-
ated one abject 
failure of a sit-
com. Yes, it’s 
hard to believe 
that 
someone 

as 
witty 
as 

Mulaney could 
create 
some-

thing as unfun-
ny as last year’s 
“Mulaney,” but 
the comedian persists with his 
new special, “John Mulaney: The 
Comeback Kid.”

Performing in The Chicago 

Theatre, Mulaney never direct-
ly addresses his experience of 
making a failed TV series, but 
the challenges of change make 
themselves clearly present. With 
an oddly boyish appearance, the 
comic seems to defy aging itself 
— but that doesn’t stop an aging 
point of view.

The 
girlfriend 
Mulaney 

referred to in “New in Town,” 
Annamarie Tendler, is now the 
stand-up’s wife in “The Come-
back Kid.” At one point, Mulaney 
says someone warned him, “Why 
buy the cow when you can get the 
milk for free?” in regards to his 
marriage. Mulaney’s penchant 
for breaking down the inherent 
insanity of certain subjects comes 
into play as he points out the ini-
tially insulting and nonsensical 
meaning behind the statement. 
He also uses the arguments own 
logic against itself. “Why buy 
the cow?” he asks himself before 
answering, “Because everyday 
the cow asks you when you’re 
going to buy it.” Mulaney contin-
ues, “Because a lot of people think 
that you like bulls,” before con-
cluding, “because you love her.”

Mulaney’s delivery and abil-

ity to inhabit several characters 
allows his setups to take shape, 
portraying memories as slightly 
absurd reimaginings. In one 
instance, Mulaney describes his 
grouchy French bulldog as an 

old French woman who easily 
asserts her Alpha status over the 
Mulaney household, prompting 
a dog trainer to tell him, “You 
need to show dominance over 
your puppy.” “These are things 
people say to me,” the comedian 
marvels at his own weakness.

But there is a growing matu-

rity in the man. This isn’t the 
guy who gets pushed around 
by Delta Airlines in “New In 
Town.” Instead, Mulaney is able 
to assertively ask that his wife 
board the plane with him. Yet, 
the man’s childishness never 
escapes him. Filled with refer-
ences to ’80s and ’90s hallmarks 
like “Back to the Future,” “Saved 
by the Bell” and Jonathan Taylor 
Thomas, “The Comeback Kid” 
paints a picture of Mulaney’s 
adolescence, applies a univer-
sality to it and contemplates the 
encroaching concept of adult-
hood. “I am very small and I have 
no money. So you can imagine the 
kind of stress that I am under,” 
Mulaney says of his mindset as a 
child, but also capturing the Mil-
lennial experience.

Mulaney’s parents are promi-

nent figures in his special, espe-
cially his father, lawyer Charles 
Mulaney. Starting as background 
figures, the parents become a 
recurring theme throughout the 
performance as Mulaney sees 
that they aren’t so different. At 
one point Mulaney tells how his 
father, with a car full of children, 
went into a McDonald’s drive-
through, and ordered a single cup 
of black coffee. Despite child-
hood frustration, Mulaney says, 
“In retrospect that is the funniest 

thing I’ve seen in my entire life,” 
as he calls his dad his hero.

Mulaney closes his set with an 

extended look into a childhood 
memory, much like he did with 
the Salt and Pepper Diner closer 
from 2009’s “The Top Part.” Now, 
the comedian details the time 
he met Bill Clinton, the political 
Comeback Kid, during his first 
presidential campaign. Amid rec-
ollections of the finale of “The 
Fugitive” and his parents’ clash-
ing ideologies, young Mulaney is 
swept up in childhood wonder at 
meeting the personable Clinton. 
This contrasts with his father’s 
cynicism towards the future pres-
ident, an outlook punctuated by 
the bit’s final act of irony.

At one point, Mulaney remem-

bers an old employer, Mr. Finch, 
who once said that he was “Too 
old to be a duckling.” The odd 
statement 
perplexes 
Mulaney 

every day, but it begins to take 
on meaning as “The Comeback 
Kid” comes to a close. Mulaney 
has changed; he’s too old as well. 
His views have shifted with time 
and what was simple becomes 
complex. Youth has left Mulaney 
behind and has been replaced by 
the responsibility of adulthood. 
He looks back at his childhood 
fondly but he doesn’t disregard 
its difficulties. This ubiquitous 
challenge faced by all ages is 
emphasized in Mulaney’s final 
story where obligation trumps 
personal opinion. Despite his own 
struggles, Mulaney’s witty sense 
of humor continues to persevere, 
allowing him to communicate 
growing up in a way that only he 
can.

A-

John 
Mulaney: 
The 
Comeback 
Kid

Netflix

STYLE NOTEBOOK
Annual V.S. show’s 
promising advances

By EMMA KINERY

Daily Arts Writer

The 20th annual Victoria’s 

Secret fashion show was filmed 
on Nov. 10, but the peasantry of 
the world will have to wait until 
Dec. 8 to see it aired on CBS.

This year’s show ushers in a 

new league of showstoppers, 
after long-time, iconic Angels 
Karlie 
Kloss 
and 
Doutzens 

Kroes walked their final Victo-
ria’s Secret show last year.

Ten models were anointed 

to be Angels this year, but all 
eyes will be on the rookies. 
While nine models will walk 
in this particular show for the 
first time, two of them seem to 
be attracting all of the media 
attention — top models of the 
year, Kendall Jenner and Gigi 
Hadid. Jenner was asked to 
walk last year, but chose to do 
the Chanel show instead.

Hadid has modeled for Guess, 

Versace and starred in several 
music videos, but for the past 
two years has been denied a 
spot in the Victoria’s Secret 
show. Her acceptance this year 
is undoubtedly partly due to her 
rise to fame as part of T-Swift’s 
girl squad (I kid you not) and 
friendship with Jenner, but 
Hadid put in a lot of work too — 
becoming and being an Angel is 
far from angelic. Many women 
work all year to maintain a star 
physique — only to be denied 
one of the 47 spots in the show.

In a video the company 

uploaded to YouTube as part 
of a series on how the show is 
produced, casting director John 
Pfeiffer said out of the 400 to 
500 model submissions, he sees 

300 auditions and two days of 
callbacks for around 100 girls.

But, as the show hits its 

20-year mark, it becomes a time 
to look back on what (if any-
thing) has been accomplished 
by it. The program and brand 
have consistently shown one 
unique and extremely demand-
ing body type: thin, tall, light 
girls with long hair, washboard 
abs and thigh gaps as wide as 
the Grand Canyon.

All of which comes at an 

incredibly demanding physi-
cal price for an industry that 
doesn’t pay what it used to. 
According to Business Insider, 
contracts for veteran models 
like Alessandra Ambrosio are 
in the millions whereas newer 
models are only offered a 10th 
of that.

For some models, the time 

requirements and stress to stay 
in shape isn’t worth the pay — 
Kroes left Victoria’s Secret for 
better pay in Europe. Famous 
Angel Miranda Kerr allegedly 
left because Victoria’s Secret’s 
extensive demands.

The narrow, demanding body 

requirements both pushes mod-
els out and prevents them from 
joining in the first place. Volup-
tuous Kate Upton was denied 
for her body type, despite being 
named “Sexiest Woman Alive” 
by People Magazine.

The brand has said it wants 

women to not only be attractive, 
but likeable to other women — 
insinuating that Upton’s shape 
and sex appeal deems her 
unmarketable to other females. 
If women don’t like the model, 
they won’t buy the bralette.

Hadid — while not exactly 

“thick” and nowhere near “fat” 
— represents somewhat of a 
deviation from the wafer model 
type, and has had to address 
criticism online because of it. 
Accepting Hadid into the show 
is a good start — if only an 
increment forward.

However, the most monu-

mental change to the show was 
the brand allowing Angolan 
model Maria Borges walk her 
third show with natural hair. 
Past shows have been predomi-
nantly filled with long strands 
of straight and softly waved 
hair. Essence reported that 
Borges told her agent to ask 
Victoria’s Secret if they would 
allow her to walk with her natu-
ral hair.

“I was nervous, but I had to 

do it,” Borges said. “When they 
said ‘yes,’ I didn’t expect it, but 
I was so happy!”

This approval marks another 

step forward in diversifying the 
appearance of the show, but, 
overall, Victoria’s Secret show 
has a long way to go before 
breaking the mold.

The show is great voyeur-

ism: it’s extravagant “fantasy,” 
and with musical stars like this 
year’s Ellie Goulding, Selena 
Gomez and The Weeknd, it’s fun 
to watch. But it should be taken 
at face value: a “fantasy.” If you 
do tune in, watch it over cheesy 
bread and wine with your girl-
friends. Watch it for Selena 
Gomez, who looked bomb in a 
low cut black gown (or for her 
drama with JB). Watch it for the 
fashion, but don’t watch it for 
the bodies. These women are 
genetically blessed and work 
hard all year to perfect it.

Bieber ditched 
his pet monkey 

in Germany.

COURTESY OF JOHN MULANEY

“What’s new, pussycat?”

FILM NOTEBOOK
‘Room’ is the perfect 
coming-of-age film

By JACOB RICH

Daily Film Editor

Spoilers for “Room” to follow. 

You should go see “Room.” It’s a 
great film and this won’t make any 
sense unless you’ve seen it.

“Room,” a film currently sus-

pended in a sea of Oscar-buzz, is 
difficult to confine within a single 
genre. It’s billed as a thriller, but, 
being about the imprisonment 
and rape of a teenage girl by a ter-
rifying criminal, the label “hor-
ror” may be a better fit; there’s 
no lack of horrific imagery here. 
However, the most apt genre to 
classify “Room” with is one that 
has, so far, rarely been assigned to 
it by critics: “Room” is a coming-
of-age film.

“Room” doesn’t have cute teen-

agers, nostalgic music, first sexual 
experiences or gross-out humor 
(the usual codifiers of the genre). 
Rather, “Room” ’s two-act struc-
ture depicts the central theme of 
the genre: a passage, from child-
hood into adulthood.

In the first act, we are intro-

duced to Jack and his mother 
Joy, the captives. Jack was born 
in Room, and has never seen any-
thing outside of it. He is not aware 
of the limitations of his existence; 
Room is his existence. Given the 
circumstances, he’s a happy and 
healthy kid. He’s still a little kid 
running about, taking pleasure in 
playing with toys and interacting 
with his mother.

Then, he turns five. His mother 

considers him old enough to learn 
the truth: They’re captives, and 
they can’t leave.

This is the moment, an exclu-

sively human explosion of con-
sciousness we all experience at 
different times in our lives: we 

discover exactly who, what and 
where we are. These are concepts 
that are vaguely known in child-
hood but don’t really come into 
complete 
understanding 
until 

young adulthood.

It’s a vastly important moment 

of self-reflection, but not usually 
a pleasant one. The ego is formed. 
Here enters the haziness and 
murkiness of reality, the realiza-
tion that we aren’t a floating con-
sciousness that has always been 
and always will be, but a thorough-
ly mortal biological construct. 
There may be more out there, but 
we have no method of understand-
ing it. We are alone together. We 
are not complacent; we are limited, 
and our time is running out.

We 
understand 
now 
that 

“Room” is not unfamiliar to us. 
“Room” is our new reality when 
we hit this point in our lives. Now 
that we understand what we are, 
we have a pervasive discomfort 
that bleeds into everything that 
was once simple and easy. While 
the physical manifestation of 
“Room” in the film is given context 
and emotional weight as a terrify-
ing situation of imprisonment and 
abuse, it also represents this more 

mundane sense of understanding.

Joy and Jack do not escape 

“Room” when they leave its 
walls. They’re still prisoners of 
their reality. Beyond the initial 
catharsis of their observed free-
dom, they cannot find a way to 
escape the humanity that they 
were born into.

Their freedom only comes 

when they re-examine their 
reality. The final scene, in which 
the pair returns to their place 
of captivity, finally puts the two 
at peace. They look at each part 
of Room unblinkingly. Through 
acceptance, they are able to 
enjoy their lives again. No lon-
ger are they stuck within the 
turmoil, the hatred of their own 
understanding. This is adult-
hood.

No, “Room” does not aestheti-

cally resemble the traditional 
coming-of-age films like “The 
Breakfast 
Club,” 
“American 

Pie” and “Almost Famous.” But 
it does explore similar themes, 
and represents a similar pas-
sage. “Room” is a primal film, a 
harrowing and emotional explo-
ration of what it’s like to compre-
hend one’s humanity.

A24

“On the bright side, we’re in a perfect coming-of-age film.”

