Scooter Braun is the professional guiding force in Justin Bieber‘s life. He’s the Biebs’ manager, the man making many of the decisions for the wunderkind you know and love.
He spoke to Complex, in conjunction with his charge’s bloodied cover of said magazine, about how he relates to and guides the most famous teen on the planet, revealing that Biebs doesn’t like being famous and strives to be normal, which is nearly impossible when teenage girls the world over faint at the sight of him.
“The struggle we’ve had is that he doesn’t like being famous,” Braun said with striking candor. “He struggles with not being normal. He really wants to be normal, and I’m constantly telling him, ‘You’re not normal, and since you’re living an extraordinary life, I’m going to hold you to extraordinary standards.’ That was my pop’s thing. My father did that to me, and I feel like I’ve grown to be a successful adult because I always pushed myself beyond expectations,” Braun told the mag.
“Maybe people don’t agree with that, but I feel like, if he’s trying to do something no one’s ever done before, then he needs to be pushed to that place. And when he doesn’t think he can make it, I’ve got to help him realize he can.”
Because of the things that Braun is instilling in Bieber, he assessed that their relationship is more like that of a father and son or an uncle and nephew. It’s not brotherly, at all. “We have a very different bond,” Braun confessed. “The common misconception — because I’m 13 years older than him — is that it’s a little brother. It’s more like an uncle or a dad.”
Braun knew he had to adopt that role after being on the road with the teen and his mother, Pattie, who raised him as a single mom. “She’s not a disciplinarian, and he needed that person in his life,” Braun revealed. So he filled the space as needed.
He also shared that The Biebs is fueled by a competitive spirit, having been an athlete who played hockey, basketball and soccer. “He didn’t tell anyone he could sing,” Braun confirmed. “He was known as an athlete when I found him, and you can see that in him. I grew up an athlete. You can see it in him.”
Braun also pointed out that Biebs is pretty much infallible. “He broke his foot, and everyone else would cancel their shows,” the manager said. “He’s got to dance, and he did 14 shows with a cast on his leg and sold out all the shows. People have forgotten that the first time he rocked Madison Square Garden and JingleBall, remember JingleBall when everyone went nuts? He did the whole show with a broken foot and a cast on his leg. He really pushes himself.”
Those are the very reasons that Bieber is not normal, is living an extraordinary life and is super famous.
Braun continued, “He wants it more than anyone I’ve ever seen. I mean, he has his moments, as a teenager, when he slips a little bit.” That’s to be expected; he is, after all, just 18.
“But nothing gets him on the ball like competition. He loves it. At the same time, he’s competitive with himself and with legends,” Braun declared.
Biebs, honey, you’ve got no worries there. You’ve already carved a place for yourself in the pop music canon and have earned space alongside those legends.
And that’s probably why he and Braun are reviewing scripts as they consider the next phase of his career. “Part of our philosophy with him was, at one point in this transition, we can use film,” Braun explained. “Visuals are so incredibly powerful, and to be able to have him do some really gritty adult roles, like teenager, but that teenager that’s really had issues, and allowing people to really see him through an adult light through playing a character, I think it’ll make the transition into adulthood easier for them to understand.”
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