The year is 1990 and your walls are adorned with cutouts from the latest teen magazine of your favourite heartthrobs… From the back of the bedroom door, to the ceiling above your bed, the closet and your locker, you are inundated with posters of your first real celebrity crush… Take a deep breath of that nostalgia, and press play on Montreal-born now Los Angeles-based Kayla DiVenere and her single, “Justin Bieber” — available now.
Both an homage to a teen fantasy spun out like an audio book of every girl’s diary, and an instant pop classic, DiVenere pulls no punches and risks it all to candidly reveal her affinity for the Biebs himself.
Calling on him to be her “boyfriend,” while she mercilessly offers to be his “baby,” the track is laced with clever references to the pop sensation’s career including “you don’t have to be sorry”— a clear nod to his singles.
“My song ‘Justin Bieber’ conveys a comedic side to infatuation where reality and Hollywood life blend together,” DiVenere explains. “Justin was every young girl’s dream celebrity crush, leading me to write a song that is so relatable.
“He was also always a role model, and inspired me to play multiple instruments and follow my passion,” she continues. “Throughout the creative process, we made sure to keep the song light and comedic as well as mysterious and sexy.”
What DiVenere does so well on the track is make it “beliebable”… A “Belieber” yourself or not, either way, you’re there with her on this journey. She’s giving you the inside scoop to her most private thoughts, wants and desires and unapologetically invites you to join in on the ride.
The song’s subsequent music video is the crazed-fan testament in visual form — plenty of posters and cardboard cutouts create the décor of her home. Included is a dinner party of Cheerios, with our protagonist at one side, cheerfully enjoying her meal across from a cardboard Bieber, propped up in his own chair with his own bowl of cereal. It’s cheeky and fun — and speaks metaphorical volumes of the intensity of childhood crushes.
Well-known for her roles on hit shows such as “Law & Order”, Hulu’s “Love Victor,” and Hulu’s “Light as a Feather” — not to mention feature films such as “Under the Silver Lake” — DiVenere is a teenager enjoying incredible success in her budding music career since bursting onto the scene in 2018 with her debut, “Youth.”
At over 800,000+ streams across Spotify alone, the songstress is making an indelible mark on the industry with her innate eclectic talent, songwriting ability, acting and showmanship; DiVenere was destined for the arts.
Be ready to revisit your teenage dream when you knock back a play or two of DiVenere’s “Justin Bieber.” Like your mother’s affinity for David Cassidy, your adoration of the Backstreet Boys, that time you swore you’d marry Devon Sawa, and the fact that you still have NKOTB dolls locked away in your chest of memories, this track reopens the floodgates of days spent pining for a celeb both a million miles away, but front and centre in your every waking thought.
The grit and grace of “Justin Bieber” is the magic Kayla DiVenere creates out of yesterday’s memories, and the grin you sheepishly bear remembering your first celebrity crush.
