Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today we feature Justin Bieber singing about pearls in the R&B remix of his 2010 release, “Up.”
In this 2011 collaboration with Chris Brown, the Canadian heartthrob refuses to call it quits on a troubled relationship that has nowhere to go but up. He tells his girlfriend that they have the power to make the sun shine in the moonlight and make the grey clouds turn to blue skies.
He also promises to take her around the world and lavish her with pearls sourced from every ocean they encounter.
In the key jewelry line, Bieber sings, “It’s a big, big world / And I’m gonna show you all of it / I’m gonna lace you with pearls, oh / From every ocean that we’re swimmin’ in.”
Originally the 9th track on Bieber’s chart-topping 2010 debut studio album, My World 2.0, “Up” was re-released on Valentine’s Day 2011 as the 7th track of his Never Say Never – The Remixes album. That release — which featured collaborations with Brown, Jaden Smith, Usher, Rascal Flatts, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West and Raekwon — also soared to #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart.
The Canadian-born Justin Drew Bieber started to make his move into the music business in 2007. That's when the adorable, fresh-faced 13-year-old placed second in a local singing competition. Bieber’s mom, Pattie, posted a video of his performance on YouTube, and then added other videos of her son singing covers of various R&B songs.
It’s been reported that music executive Scooter Braun accidentally clicked on one of Bieber’s videos — thinking he was watching a 20-year-old doing a cover of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” The impressive performer was, in fact, the teenage Bieber.
Braun tracked down the youngster in Canada, and with the permission of Bieber’s mom, introduced him to singer-songwriter Usher, who soon became his mentor. Bieber was then signed by record executive L.A. Reid and the rest is Bieber history.
Bieber has sold an estimated 150 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He’s earned two Grammy Awards, 18 American Music Awards, 21 Billboard Music Awards, six MTV Video Music Awards and a record 21 MTV Europe Music Awards.
The 27-year-old Bieber has 91 million followers on Facebook, 114 million on Twitter and 214 million on Instagram.
Please check out the audio track of the soulful Bieber/Brown collaboration of “Up.” The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…
“Up”
Written by Adam Messinger, Justin Bieber and Nasri Atweh. Performed by Justin Bieber, with Chris Brown.
It’s a big, big world
It’s easy to get lost in it
You’ve always been my girl, oh
And I’m not ready to call it quits
We can make the sun shine in the moonlight
We can make the grey clouds turn to blue skies
I know it’s hard
Baby, believe me
That we can go nowhere but up
From here, my dear
Baby, we can go nowhere but up
Tell me what we’ve got to fear
We’ll take it to the sky past the moon to the galaxy
As long as you’re with me, baby
Honestly (honestly) with the strength of our love
We can’t go nowhere but up
It’s a big, big world
And I’m gonna show you all of it
I’m gonna lace you with pearls, oh
From every ocean that we’re swimmin’ in
We can make the sun shine in the moonlight
We can make the grey clouds turn to blue skies
Yeah, I know it’s hard
Baby, believe me, ooh
That we can go nowhere but up
From here, my dear
Baby, we can go nowhere but up
Tell me what we’ve got to fear
We’ll take it to the sky past the moon to the galaxy
As long as you’re with me, baby
Honestly (honestly) with the strength of our love
We can’t go nowhere but up
Nowhere but up
Baby, we were underground
We’re on the surface now
We’re gonna make it girl
I promise
If you believe in love
And you believe in us
We can go nowhere but up
We can go nowhere but up
From here, my dear
Baby, we can’t go nowhere but up
Tell me what we’ve got to fear
We’ll take it to the sky past the moon to the galaxy
As long as you’re with me, baby
Honestly, honestly with the strength of our love
We can go nowhere but up
Nowhere but up
Nowhere but up
Yeah
Nowhere but up
Credit: Photo by Adam Sundana, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
