Over the weekend, Justin Bieber teased a new joint-holding phone case as part of his new apparel brand Skylrk, which he’s been drip-launching for years.
The case appears to be a play on Hailey Bieber’s wildly popular Rhode case, which includes a lip gloss holder, and became a viral staple of Hayley’s clean-girl aesthetic adherent disciples last year (alongside the lip tint to slot into it, the case costs £56).
Ofc, celebrities launching phone cases is a smart move. When consumers buy them, we’re essentially paying to promote that person through an item we have with us at all times: unlike branded bags and shoes, which we often swap out, phone cases generally stay adhered to our phones (and by extension our hands) for at least a few months at a time.
Further, although they may technically be the product of a brand, we generally associate them with the celebrities themselves. When you see a Lulu Lemon-wearing corporate girl donning the Rhone phone case, for instance, your mind probably leaps to one of the myriad photos of Hayley pouting in front of a mirror clutching it. When you see the Skylrk case, you may well picture Justin holding a J.
But it’s difficult to say whether Justin is co-opting the Rhode case’s immense popularity or satirizing it. At first glance, nothing seems like a further cry from Rhode’s wholesome, pilates girl branding than a literal drug. By this logic, the case may be an in-on-the-joke, ironic take on the difference between Bieber and his wife’s public personas (it’s giving clean girl girlfriend, stoner boyfriend). Then again, given the legalization of weed in California and its subsequent merging with Instagram-first wellness culture, maybe a relaxing plant and a peptide-infused lip balm don’t occupy opposite galaxies after all.
But after his mercilessly public struggles with substance abuse and subsequent “bad boy” reputation, it’s curious that Skylrk is releasing a product centered around drugs at all. It’s perhaps no coincidence that (as noted by GQ) Skylark is the name of a disillusioned pop star in Nickelodeon series The Fairly OddParents (voiced by NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick, who himself has been critical of young fame). The brand’s name may therefore be a nod to Bieber’s status as a disillusioned popstar, and the case a nod to the habit that came by dint of that fame — a habit the media claimed would be his downfall.
Featured image via Justin Bieber©
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