Justin Bieber, Arcade Fire riding pop culture wave in the United States

Call it a Canuck invasion – Canadian artists are in the spotlight in the United States, greeted by Americans with everything from celebration to scorn.

Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber and indie music heroes Arcade Fire are riding the crest of the current pop culture wave, attracting the type of controversy that often comes after stepping under the public magnifying glass in a country that both loves and loathes its celebrities.

Most Americans had never heard of Montreal-based Arcade Fire until last week, when the group won album of the year at the Grammys and was soon subjected to a sea of online insults from disdainful American mainstream music fans. The hot water Bieber’s currently treading in, however, has touched off a fresh battle between pro-life and pro-choice forces in the U.S. at a critical moment in the hot-button abortion debate.

“I really don’t believe in abortion,” the mop-topped Bieber, a Christian raised in Stratford, Ont., told Rolling Stone magazine in its latest issue. “I think (an embryo) is a human. It’s like killing a baby.”

When asked if he felt the same way in cases of rape, he replied: “Well, I think that’s just really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don’t know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”

And with that, Christopher Murphy, a Democratic congressman who tweeted about his case of “Bieber fever” thanks to the pop star’s remarks about the virtues of Canada’s public health-care system, quickly rescinded his praise with the word: “Ugh.”

Pro-choice groups are worrying about the impact Bieber’s stance could have on his legion of squealing, pre-teen female fans, while anti-abortion groups are lauding the pop star, who’s just shy of his 17th birthday.

“The way he answered that question – he’s thought about this,” said an official for Focus on the Family. “Increasingly, young people are seeing abortion for what it is. It is a tragedy, but it’s taking a life.”

The controversy even prompted the New York Times to weigh in this weekend in a piece headlined “Twilight of the Teen Idol.”

The Times had a warning for Bieber despite the fact he’s got R and B icon Usher backing him, has graced the cover of Vanity Fair magazine and his first movie, the biopic “Never Say Never,” grossed $30 million on its opening weekend.

“The trick of pop success is to achieve a conspiratorial bond with fans, to assert that you speak the same language as they do, even – or especially – when others can’t understand,” read the Times piece. “By taking a stand against abortion, Mr. Bieber risks finding out how frail and tenuous that bond might be.”

Given Bieber weighed in on abortion as Republicans in U.S. Congress are attempting to further restrict a woman’s right to the procedure, the controversy surrounding Arcade Fire’s surprise win is tame by comparison.

Comedian Rosie O’Donnell, under attack from the band’s American indie-music fans for tweeting during the Grammys that she’d never heard of them, has since bought some of the band’s albums and reports that she’s now a fan.

“I made a huge error apparently during the Grammys,” she told the tabloid TV show “Extra,” adding she was called “old and fat” for her tweet.

“I didn’t say they suck; I just hadn’t heard them. Now I have downloaded all of their records. All of their CDs. And they are enjoyable. I get it.”

The band’s publicist says O’Donnell wasn’t alone – even those in the Grammy audience were mystified when Barbra Streisand announced Arcade Fire had won the award.

“We began screaming and jumping as our section emptied out with people muttering under their breath: ‘Who is Arcade Fire?’ ” Christina Rentz of Mercury Records writes on Billboard magazine’s website.

But the band’s win has buoyed indie music fans, according to James Reed, music writer for the Boston Globe.

“For now at least, a sense of empowerment, the uplifting feeling that ‘our’ team finally won, is rippling across music blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts, and independent radio,” he wrote in a weekend piece.

In the weeks to come, there could be more Canadian glory ahead in the United States. Montreal director Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” is nominated for best foreign film at the Academy Awards next weekend.

The film, about a family’s turmoil amid war in the Middle East, has already received accolades at the Venice International Film Festival. Audiences at the recent Rotterdam Film Festival in the Netherlands also chose it as their favourite.

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