Braun and Bieber Reason to "Believe"

SCOOTER’S DOUBLE PLAY: The just-announced, 45-city Justin Bieber “Believe” tour, which gets underway Sept. 29 in Glendale, AZ, through Jan. 26, 2013, in Miami, will feature Carly Rae Jepsen as an opening act. Jepsen is signed to Schoolboy Records, the label partnership between Bieber manager Scooter Braun and his pop star client through Interscope. Braun and Bieber were the beneficiaries of an “against-all-odds” game- and season-saving turnaround from IDJ’s Steve Bartels and his promo team who went deep into their playbook to save “Boyfriend,” the first single from his upcoming Believe album, at radio after a seemingly disastrous initial callout research. The rare reversal of fortune gave Bieber his first real radio hit and the chance of reinventing himself to millions of potential new fans. Can he now cross over to the hipper rhythm-leaning music that is so massive today at Top 40 and compete with the likes of his mentor Usher? Now that the country's tween girls have seemingly moved their affections to One Direction, can the Biebs find an audience made up of soccer moms and older hipper teens? His “Boyfriend” video (embedded below), with its hot cars and sexy imaging, seems to be pointing in that direction. (5/31p)