One Less Lonely Girl

Regarding the concept of the song, Bieber told MTV News, "I think it's really important these girls have something so they can be one less lonely girl." Bieber joked that "Lonely Girl" wasn't always the choice for his second single stating "It was either between that or 'I Love High School.'", a remix of "I Love College" by label mate, Asher Roth. "One Less Lonely Girl" was released digitally on the iTunes Store on October 6, 2009. ==Composition and critical reception==

{{listen|filename=onelesslonelygirl.ogg|title="One Less Lonely Girl" Crystal Bell of Billboard gave the song a generally positive review stating "much as he did on his debut single, "One Time," Bieber makes a strong case for why he's the next pop heartthrob. 'I'm gonna put you first, I'll show you what you're worth/If you let me inside your world,' he sings. The stump speech is hard to resist, especially when set to an arrangement that follows the lineage of hit midtempo ballads "With You", and "Irreplaceable". Although the lyrics are generic, Bieber's smooth delivery is right on point, and his tender vocals blend well with the song's easy-flowing beat." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called the song along with "Down to Earth", "uncomplicatedly beautiful and earnest." Andy Kellman of Allmusic listed the song as one of his recommended tracks from the album. ==Chart performance==

In the U.S., the single had 113,000 downloads in its first week, propelling it to debut at number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated October 24, 2009. Bieber scored the second highest debut of the week, only being surpassed by "3" by Britney Spears. Due to the impact of mainstream radio in the U.S., the song entered at thirty-six on the Billboard Pop Songs on the week ending December 12, 2009, and in turn also re-entered the Hot 100 at sixty-nine. It dropped the next week on the Hot 100, but rose to thirty-two on the Pop Songs, and rose again to twenty-six the following week. The single peaked at twenty-one on the pop chart. Due to increased airplay and digital sales of My World, on the week ending January 9, 2010, the song rose thirty positions from sixty to thirty on the Hot 100. As of February 2011, the single has sold over 1,025,000 digital copies in the United States. The song debuted at number ten on the Canadian Hot 100 on the issue dated October 24, 2009. It debuted in Austria at number fifty-four, where it peaked, and remained four weeks on the chart. It debuted in Germany at number twenty-two, where it peaked, and remained for nine weeks. The song also peaked at sixty-eight in Australia and sixty-two in the United Kingdom. ==Music video==

In an October 7, 2009, exclusive with MTV News, Bieber confirmed that a music video had been shot in Watertown, Tennessee (a small town approximately 50 miles east of Nashville, Tennessee) with Roman White who directed the music video for "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. It later premiered on Bieber's official site and YouTube on October 13, 2009, Bieber's mother, Pattie Mallette, makes a cameo during the flower stand scene in the music video. AOL calls the video a "treasure hunt" and commended the pet store scene, saying "And then, as if the video couldn't get more cute, they bring out the puppies." "One Less Lonely Girl" officially published on YouTube on . ==Merchandise==

The "One Less Lonely Girl" phrase spawned several products from Bieber's official store to have the coined phrase on them. One of the products is a cranberry colored scarf, the same color as a shirt Bieber wore in the music video. Another product was a white t-shirt that had the phrase stylized as "1LessL♥nelyGirl" in variations of sky blue colors. In December 2009, Bieber teamed up with 1-800-Flowers for a promotion. The company came out with a "One Less Lonely Girl"-branded bouquet of red "intuition" roses and a Valentine's Day card from Bieber, depicting the singer holding a heart. Packages could either have a twenty-four or twelve count stems, and a red, silver or clear vase. The flowers could be set for delivery between January 12-February 12, 2010, before Valentine's Day. A portion of the proceeds went to Pencils of Promise, a charity that helps build schools in developing areas of the world. Bieber frequently participates in the charity. ==Live performances==

Bieber has performed "One Less Lonely Girl" as an acoustic rendition and with the original musical background. He premiered the song, performing an acoustic rendition when he made a return appearance to his native Canada on the finale of YTV's The Next Star. Bieber performed the song along with his lead single "One Time" on September 26, 2009. He also performed the song acoustically when he appeared on ''It's On with Alexa Chung'' on November 19, 2009. When Bieber performs the song with the musical background, he invites one girl on stage to be the object of his affection or the "lonely girl" during the performance and gives them flowers. (The "lonely girl" traditionally does not appear on stage until the song's bridge.) He also performed the song with the musical background on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and during Winter 2009 when he performed at several different Jingle Ball concerts. When Bieber performed at Q100's Jingle Ball in Atlanta, Georgia, where Bieber's career is based out of, he invited good friend and former girlfriend, Caitlin Beadles, who had recently recovered from a boating accident, on stage as the girl during the song. The performance onstage fueled further speculation of a relationship between Bieber and Gomez but both claimed they were just friends, as they did before. He sang the song on VH1's Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam, along with other performers Rihanna and Timbaland, and on CBS' The Early Show as a part of their Super Bowl programming. He performed a medley of "One Less Lonely Girl" and "Never Let You Go", along with "Baby" at BET's SOS: Help for Haiti Telethon. With the telethon also being broadcast in Haiti, Bieber sang the first verse in French. The song was also on the set list for the My World Tour and the Believe Tour. When Bieber performed the song as part of the Believe Tour, instead of giving the "lonely girl" flowers, he placed a wreath of flowers on her head. During the Purpose World Tour, Bieber unexpectedly performed the song during the tour for the last time. ==Controversy==

A parody of the song performed by Bieber caused controversy after a video of it was released by the entertainment news website TMZ on June 4, 2014. The video featured a then 15-year-old Bieber, parodying the song with the main lyric "One less lonely nigger," and singing that if he were to kill "one less lonely nigger," he'd be "part of the KKK." Sources stated that Bieber told his mentors, musicians Usher and Will Smith, about the video after it was filmed, after which Usher showed Bieber some videos about the history of racism in an effort to teach him about the derogatory intent of the word "nigger" and other racial epithets. On June 5, 2014, the rapper and president of Young Money Entertainment, Mack Maine chose to defend Bieber after the racist remarks. Maine said Bieber is still family for the artists on Young Money, according to TMZ. The publication reports that Maine says Bieber has black friends and that "Bieber does not have a slave mentality." According to Mack Maine, Bieber "treats his people with respect." Mack Maine has said that he brought up a racial joke in his past. "I remember telling a White man, Chinese man, Black man joke as a kid that was terrible," Maine says, "and I told it to my friends because I thought they'd think it was funny." Mack Maine also confirms that Young Money and Justin Bieber are slated to continue working together. On the same day, Bieber apologized for the parody, saying "I didn’t realize at the time that it wasn’t funny and that in fact my actions were continuing the ignorance" and "I take all my friendships with people of all cultures very seriously and I apologize for offending or hurting anyone with my childish and inexcusable behavior." ==Credits and personnel==

• Songwriting - Vance Tate, Thomas Olivera, Ezekiel Lewis, Balewa Muhammad, Sean Hamilton, Hyuk Shin (Joombas) • Production - Ezekiel Lewis, Balewa Muhammad, Sean Hamilton, Hyuk Shin (Joombas), Vance Tate, Thomas Olivera • Vocal production and recording - Ezekiel Lewis and Dave Hyman • Mixing - Jaycen Joshua-Fowler and Dave Pensado, assisted by Giancarlo Lino • A&R Consultants - Vance Tate, Steve Owens and Rosalind Harrell Source ==Charts==