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Justin Bieber Gets Gritty In ‘What Do You Mean?’ Music Video, Skateboarding Scene Lightens

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 01:20 PST, Aug 20, 2015

With eight days left until Justin Bieber’s upcoming single “What Do You Mean?” drops, and a still filming music video, the superstar’s team thrilled fans on Wednesday when snippets of the lyrics popped up in selected Beliebers’ direct messages on Twitter.

On Wednesday, the U.K’s Mail Online published paparazzi-obtained photos and footage of Justin shooting his “What Do You Mean?” music video in East Hollywood, California, later Tuesday night into the morning.

The visuals revealed an intriguingly grittier setting than Justin’s previous description of the song’s lyrics suggest. The singer and actor John Leguizamo are seen acting out a shady deal, backdropped by real-life motel The Harvard House, complete with an adult movies sign.

In contrast, shaky footage filmed (seemingly without permission) and shared on Periscope by an on-set extra also showed a skateboarding scene.

So, it looks like the music video concept marries light and dark. At press time, the singer was still on set and tweeted that he had been for 26 hours.

Justin Bieber
(Photo: John Leguizamo and Justin Bieber filming on set earlier this week. The singer was seen handing John a roll of cash)

According to Leguizamo’s caption to an Instagram photo he shared last night, the “What Do You Mean” video will be released on the same day as the August 28-dropping single.

The actor wrote, “Done my thing for world youth! Video out in 9 dayz!”

However, it’s possible, if not probable, that Leguziamo confused the single’s release date with the video’s.

Team Bieber’s jigsaw-style rollout of the single’s lyrics were sent out to 49 Beliebers. The chosen shared the sends on Twitter, with fans quickly realizing the different clock times on cover art enabled the lyric teases to be put in sequence.

As Justin himself tweeted shortly after the lyrics surfaced, “check ur dms and the time on the clock ) put it together. #whatdoyoumean.”

Fans’ Twitter reaction to the DMs powered “What Do You Mean” to No. 1 on Billboard’s Trending 140 chart.

“What Do You Mean” will be the lead single from the singer’s fourth studio album, which arrives November 13. Build up to the single’s release is now reaching peak levels, due to the oft-surprising, celebrity-assisted countdown Justin kicked off on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show last month when he announced the song.

The Biebs told Seacrest that his “up-tempo,” “fun and summery, “cool” new single is about “girls [who] are often just flip-floppy.”

Naturally, fans and media speculated that the Canadian was referring to former girlfriend Selena Gomez, and their infamous, four-year, on-again, off-again romance. The “What Do You Mean” lyrics have now been uploaded to justinbiebermusic.com, along with a ticking clock audio feature.

Justin Bieber
(Screenshot: ‘What Do You Mean’ lyrics)

Justin Bieber

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Justin Bieber

So far, Team Bieber’s promo for the “What Do You Mean” single has been gold. The now full-throttle, celebrity-packed countdown reads like a wild ride through the camp’s contacts list. Names such as Mariah Carey, Luke Bryan, Tony Hawk, Hilary Duff, Alanis Morissette, Leguizamo, pro skater Ryan Sheckler, Hailee Steinfeld, a hyped Martin Garrix, Will Ferrell, Ashton Kutcher, and tons more have appeared in the roll call.

With the Biebs’ teen-angst exploits receding ever further into the past amid his continued incident-free behavior, “Where Are Ü Now” collaborators Skrillex and Diplo attesting that the singer is in a “good place,” a strongly rumored upcoming MTV VMA’s live performance of his new song, and Ellen DeGeneres revealing he will hit up her Season 13 show during its premiere week — the 21-year-old’s comeback is on track.

Despite mean-spirited carping from some, if Justin Bieber’s new single, music video, and album deliver, his 2013-14 will likely become a bizarre footnote.

Justin Bieber

[Images via Karl Larsen/ Coleman Rayner / Twitter]

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