Justin Bieber Meltdown: Beliebers Will Keep Bieber a Major Star

It's fair to say that Justin Bieber didn't have a good start to his U.K. tour: in the run-up to his arrival in the U.K., his army of Beliebers ganged up on a 15-year-old after he retweeted her short review of his album, and was even booed by fans after turning up two hours late to his own concert (ahem, "no he wasn't, he was only 40 minutes late").

Whilst both stories shed light on the worrying nature of teenage girl fandom getting to the point of idol worship, and indeed there are many debates on whether or not teen obsessions is even healthy. But regardless of this the willingness of Beliebers to leap to his defence within a nanosecond is testimony that his fans will forever keep him in the spotlight.

Just Google Justin Bieber and any story about the singer, no matter how mundane or sensationalist, will inevitably feature a sentence or two and a few tweets from select members of the Belieber ranks. That army of raging hormones with screams loud enough to put a banshee out of business is a force to be reckoned with. 

Unwitting victims such as Olivia Wilde and Selena Gomez have fallen foul of the Belieber sisterhood (and brotherhood) because of maybe the odd throwaway comment or tweet. Oh and who can forget that infamous #Cut4Bieber trend?

Following the "scandal" of Bieber turning up late for his own concert, the U.K. media was awash with gleeful parents taking on the airwaves giving Bieber a piece of their mind: "It was a school night so she had to leave before you even walked onto the stage!" and "You ruined my little girl's day! How dare you!"

Yes, Bieber did upset many fans as Twitter was awash with many a British Belieber with tear-stained faces and the look of heartbreak. Yes, he was the brunt of fury and blame by many parents, but unfortunately this anger was short-lived. From the many reports circulating the media, many of the fans weren't too upset about it and were just happy to see him (some a bit too happy, it seems), and judging by the mob of fans chasing him outside his London hotel, this all seemed to be a minor blip and everything was back to normal.

Indeed Bieber has come out of this relatively unscathed given the nature of his fans who are incredibly maternal and protective of him (at times too over protective). The way Bieber is treated by his fans is pretty much similar to the way a forgiving girlfriend would treat a boyfriend who was perhaps a little bit of a jerk.

The maternal nature has in huge part been attributed to the fact that Bieber was discovered as a child. As the Daily Telegraph's Bernadette McNulty pointed out, Bieber has managed to carry his fans with him because they know him as that little tyke singing on YouTube, and he has effectively grown up with the fans.

There is just something so home-video-esque about the whole set up of watching Bieber grow up via YouTube, it's something we all feel so familiar with. Compare that to the way some fans behave towards child stars who didn't start off as YouTube sensations.

Many have said Bieber has been trying to shed his clean cut image for the more bad boy one. If ambling out of a London nightclub shirtless with your trousers slung low is anything to go by, Bieber is getting to the point of outgrowing his fans, but his fans certainly have not outgrown him.

Eventually, maybe there will come the day where this army of Beliebers gradually but slowly get around to having the "sorry, it's not you, it's me, I just don't see it working out" talk. Give it a year maybe. But in the meantime, let's hope that Bieber doesn't take his fans for granted.