Justin Bieber says that he’s paying it forward with his new artist Carly Rae Jepsen. Justin Bieber is no stranger to accolades. From winning countless music awards to breaking YouTube records and becoming the second most-followed celebrity on Twitter, Bieber is on one impressive winning streak. Now, he can add a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation award to his long list of career achievements. The Tribeca Film Festival, in association with Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen and the Disruptor Foundation, honoured 18-year-old Bieber, along with his manager Scooter Braun for breaking the music industry mold. Bieber, wearing his favourite varsity jacket, was on hand at New York University’s Stern School of Business to accept his award. “I don’t think that I would be here without the Internet,” said Bieber. With over 2.7 billion video views on YouTube, nearly 21 million Twitter followers and 41 million Facebook fans, the Internet has also influenced the way the young artist interacts with his young fans. “The fans feel connected to me,” he said. On a recent trip to Canada, Bieber heard Jepsen’s single ‘Call Me Maybe’ and knew that he wanted to work with her. He created a viral lip syncing video with a few of his famous friends to help spread the word stateside. Over 35 million views later, and now Jepsen’s single is No 1 in eight countries, including the U.K. ” I went to the U.K. recently, and they were like, you’re single is No. 2,” he said.
