You know I kinda don't like any of the artists he has sung with... But hey, that is just me.
I should mention that he donates all that money to improve his image, because if you have ever seen meetings with people in a candid setting, he is really an asshole to people. I'm not sure if it is because he is 17 or if it is because he is an actual asshole (I'll go with the latter, because even at 17 you should have some common decency to avoid touchy subjects with people you meet). But it is great that he is a philanthropist, fantastic, good for him. More artists need to get out there and do that. It shouldn't take a devastating tsunami and earthquake to get artists moving.
You have got to stop saying 5 albums... it is 3, 1 studio, 2 remix. But that is besides the point... 11 million followers and 33 million likes and selling out MSG in 22 minutes all points to the same thing. He is popular with who he wants to be popular with, which is the 9-17 female demographic (could be wider, but I'm not sure). He is the same as all the boy bands that I grew up with when I was a kid. No one could stop talking about them, they sold out major venues quickly and what not. It is all about popularity, not talent. He may know how to play the guitar, piano and drums, but ironically so do I. And am I a virturoso at any of them? No I am not, and unless you are a musical genius, it is likely that you can be very good at those three instruments but not fantastic.
But lets dive into that... Judging from this he really doesn't know how to play the guitar. Compare that to an acoustic performance from a true virtuoso here. Please notice how he doesn't use a capo, and moves his fingers a bit more than between 2 chords (in the same area no less). And for the record, that was one of two videos of him playing a guitar that I could find. And both were the same... Strumming the guitar shifting between TWO chords. There is no talent in his guitar playing. I've seen people pick up more techniques playing Guitar Hero. If he was such a fantastic guitarist, he would play the guitar on stage more often. Or play the piano on stage more often, or even the drums... But here is the thing...
His drumming is mediocre at best. He has no finesse and no solid rhythm.
JB drumming.
Buddy Rich Drumming
But how about piano? That is probably what he is best at. No where the level of virtuosos, but he is still good enough. But you know what? I've compared the other instruments, why not piano?
JB piano
Billy Joel piano (note that on top of singing and playing piano, he is also playing the harmonica)
But as I said, his piano playing is probably the best of the 3. He plays well enough for me not to scorn him. Drums and guitar? He should stick to just singing. His piano playing is very rudimentary, but that is never bad, and it shows he knows his limits with that instrument. But playing two chords on the guitar for the duration of a song, and the drums were random at best with no pressure control.
(BTW, as you can hopefully see by now, I don't hate him just to hate him, I hate him because like with most things that are popular, people are blinded. He is mediocre in almost everything that he does. The best thing that he does is sing, and he is not used to his deeper voice yet, which is why on newer songs you can hear more Autotune than previous. He is not as good as any of the artists I listen to, and his lyrics are so simple and targeted at the teenage female demographic it is sickening. There is no depth to his music. But that can be said of almost all popular music these days, then again my feeling with popular music is pretty much the same across the board)