There was an unspoken social rule among anyone who wasn’t a prepubescent girl prior to this year: one should, nay must, relentlessly hate Justin Bieber. And there was something for everyone to hate—from his rudeness during his leaked deposition video to his dangerously saggy pants, from his infamous flowy bowl cut to his fabricated gangster attitude (despite, curiously enough, his having grown up in the suburbs of Canada). Despite all this, his fame is international and rampant: Bieber’s most popular song, Baby ft. Ludacris, has over 1.2 billion views on Youtube, 3.4 million likes—and 5.1 million dislikes. In brief, Bieber was the poster child for negatively publicized celebrities, a status that he seemed, at least at the time, unbothered by.

It was around last year, however, that things began to take a turn in this self-proclaimed bad boy’s behavior. After running into several legal issues under charges for infractions like assault and reckless driving and gaining negative publicity for his public misdemeanors (including but not limited to spitting on his fans, urinating in a restaurant mop bucket, and starting a fistfight with Orlando Bloom), the Biebs began to revamp his tainted image.

Appearing on Comedy Central’s segment entitled “Bieber Roast” earlier this year, Justin was a surprisingly good sport as celebrity comedians took turns bashing him. He also took a televised car trip with James Corden, demonstrated his impressive Rubik’s Cube skills, posted a self-made video clip of him apologizing to his fans for his past behavior, and appeared on Ellen to explain the contents of the video and issue an apology in person.

Alan Du ‘16 notes that “Justin Bieber’s transformation was pretty motivational for aspiring artists everywhere who wish to redefine themselves and succeed under international attention.”

Yet nothing altered Bieber’s image quite like the new singles that he released just a few months ago from his anticipated album Purpose. Under collaborations with the wildly popular EDM musicians Skrillex and Diplo, “Where are Ü Now” and “What Do You Mean?” unquestionably widened his fans’ demographic from a younger, predominantly female base to older EDM fans. With the help of his favorite producer Poo Bear, Bieber expanded into the realm of synthesized electronic pop. This genre has exploded in the past few years what with the emergence of raves and prolific DJs, and Bieber has seemingly pinpointed and latched on to the trend.

While his latest releases have indeed drawn in many new fans, others are unconvinced of his upgraded song style and attitude. Amy Zhang ‘16 asserts, “I think it’s great that Justin is trying something different and it definitely seems to be working. I just feel like both his image and genre shifted a little too quickly, which somewhat leads me to believe that it’s all an act. Plus, with his last two released singles being so electronic and remixed, I just hope he’s not going to keep trying to copy all of Skrillex’s effects.”

Needless to say, the twenty-one-year-old Usher protégé has come a long way since his mushroom-styled hair and public debauchery. Perhaps his transformation can be a lesson to us all: firstly, that most people seem to dig EDM nowadays regardless of its producer, and secondly, that despite past mistakes, there is always the opportunity to redefine ourselves if we Just Belieb.