A pop star’s coming-of-age might involve things like a “sexy” new image, a “sexy” new sound, a “sexy” new tribute to *NSYNC’s Girlfriend video.

Justin Bieber has experienced all these things as he prepares for his June 19 album release, Believe — the pop star’s would-be graduation from tween-pop. But the 18-year-old has also gone through more ordinary rites of passage — like graduating from Grade 12, for instance.

“I just finished high school,” Bieber revealed in this Sunday’s edition of Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph. “I passed my test — I’m free! It was hard doing school and work every day.”

His mother, we expect, is proud. “That was something my mom really wanted me to do,” Bieber told The Telegraph, talking about earning his diploma. “I mean this kind of lifestyle has given me a different perspective on life. I’ve been able to travel the world. At school, usually you have to do a lot of writing and reading. I’m really not into that stuff. I like to be out there.”

As his busy schedule of performing, recording and self-promotion would suggest, the teenager was educated on the road. Bieber has previously talked about being “away-schooled.” In a May 2010 interview with New Zealand magazine Coup de Main, for instance, the then 16-year-old said he was a straight-A student.

“I have a tutor (Jenny) that travels with me. And we do school every morning. And just keep up on studies and stuff,” he said. “I don’t really have a favourite subject to be honest, because I don’t really love school. But English — if I had to choose — English would be my favourite subject.”

It’s unknown whether Bieber will pursue higher education, though in October 2011, the teenager’s “swagger coach,” Ryan Good, left his team. This suggests the pop star has at least completed an advanced degree in charm and sneaker/hoodie colour co-ordination.

Source: Ottawa Citizen