The worlds of pop music and lip syncing have co-mingled in the past, with the latter’s requirement sometimes unavoidable for the former, so pop stars would seeming be advantageous in the “artform.” And watching the renowned and reviled Justin Bieber enter Lip Sync Battle is indeed better than watching a legitimate performance – at least for me, since it’s up to the viewer to bring immediate and loud perspective. Absorb this clip into your memory banks.
Did I mention he was lip syncing Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” which adds further fuel to whatever fire you’re trying to burn when talking about this video to the monsters under your bed at night. We’re lucky this is only a clip, a way to let a little bit of the air out of our sails before the full performance comes during Thursday night’s episode, in which Bieber’s pop-squared stylings will be matched by whatever former NFL great and current NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders. But it’s got to be one of the best moments from, and it contains a moment when Sanders’ sunglasses were on their A-game.
That bit when Bieber hops back on stage and caresses Sanders’ chin – it is a caress, I looked it up – is like high drama, because if it wasn’t rehearsed, then we would have known it by Sanders’ eyes. He stands up in faux offense, but his eyes would have given us percentages on how faux. Because those sunglasses have hidden it all, though, we’re left to judge this mandible fondling by LL Cool J’s laugh. And nothing should ever be decided by that, so it all falls apart.
A man who was once nicknamed Neon, Sanders is not exactly a distant cousin once removed from musical performances, and he had a pick six back in 1994 with his debut album Prime Time. So maybe his lip syncing skills will be as top notch as possible. I mean, it must be like riding a bicycle retaining the headspace that went into this video for the single “Must Be the Money.”
His sunglasses were on C-game in that video. Lip Sync Battle, which has already been renewed for Season 2, and the rest of this season will feature battles between Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson and Illana Glazer, Iggy Azalea and Nick Young, and Empire’s Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson.
It’s not a battle for the ages, but catch Justin Bieber taking on Deion Sanders’ chin when Lip Sync Battle airs Thursday night on Spike at 10 p.m. ET.
