Justin Bieber Songwriter Teases Singer’s New Album As His ‘Thriller’
Anticipation or curiosity about Justin Bieber’s new album is already soaring, what with the Canadian’s blazing hot last two singles and his historic first-time No. 1 debut on the Hot 100 with “What Do You Mean?” this week stoking interest.
Now, that interest may just go through the roof, after the superstar’s main songwriting partner, Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, recently said the Biebs’ upcoming full-length is his Thriller. The album is expected to arrive November 13.
Although Bieber isn’t the one making the comparison, it’s a mighty bar to put on any record. The late Michael Jackson’s second solo album remains the biggest selling LP of all time, with reported sales of over 51 million. Widely considered as the musical zenith of Jackson’s career, Thriller is also seen as the Holy Grail of hybrid pop, so those are big shoes for any artist to emulate.
Boyd met Bieber at a mutual pal’s birthday party in 2013, and after the pair hit it off, Poo Bear joined the superstar on his Believe tour, writing and establishing their working relationship. The two co-wrote most of the songs on Justin’s low-fi, confessional R&B Journals collection, which was released in 2013.
The project wasn’t intended as a major commercial release, but it did showcase Bieber’s ability to move between genres and unravel his own barriers.
But, it’s the duo’s most recent collaborations that re-engaged the general public with Bieber and brought music critics back on board as Team Bieber and Def Jam pulled off a undeniably impressive comeback, after the singer’s drama-filled two-year time-out.
Bieber and Poo Bear co-wrote the lyrics for the Jack Ü-produced “Where Are Ü Now.” The pop-EDM hit peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100 in July, and has just jumped back onto the chart at No. 10 in the wake of the pair’s latest release “What Do You Want,” which broke Spotify’s first-week record with over 21 million streams and debuted atop the Hot 100 this week.
Bieber’s first-time feat also saw him set a record as the youngest male solo artist ever to launch at No. 1 on the 100. His infectious, tropical house-pop jam is only the 23rd song to do so in the 57-year history of Billboard’s Singles Chart.
So far, so amazing. And in a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Grammy-winning Poo Bear said he is confident that Bieber is packing the goods on his new album. Boyd said his own contribution is his best work to date and says the Biebs’ fourth studio album will stand as the heartthrob’s Thriller.
Boyd notes that he and Bieber used the personal and external troubles that engulfed the now 21-year-old between 2013-14 and says because of that, the superstar’s album can be a point of light for others who fall, and want to know how to get back up.
“It was a trying time but we made it through,” Boyd recalled to the magazine, “and he definitely matured, which leads us to this new album. It’s incredible. And if I had to compare it to something, not the sound of it but the impact and amount of songs that are undeniable, I would have to compare it to ‘Thriller.’”
Elaborating, Poo Bear revealed, “We recorded a lot of songs, 103 songs, over the past couple of years… just making sure that everything is in the direction we want to stay in, which is uplifting music, real-world music. This is so the world can understand: ‘If you’re going through what I went through, this is what I did to get through my problems.'”
“Justin always wanted to be that light, that example. And we really hit it with this album,” Boyd explained.
In a tease that echoes hints Bieber previously made about his forthcoming album being “uplifting” and “personal,” Boyd promises, “You’ll get to hear him really get intimate with things that he went through in his life in the last couple of years, so that people can understand him, kind of like with ‘Human Nature.’ Big, powerful records that everyone can listen to.”
He concluded, “This album is so inspirational.”
During the interview, Boyd revealed Bieber was committed to his next album being a full-on R&B affair and spoke of his efforts to get the singer to mix it up with the EDM-influenced sounds now dominating global radio.
“There would be times where I would bring up, like ‘Hey, can we do some EDM, a little electronica with a hint of R&B?'” says Boyd. “He’d [Bieber] be like, ‘No, I want to sing R&B.’ In the back of my mind I’m like, ‘Man. I’m working with the biggest pop star in the world, and we’re doing R&B.'”
The songwriter added, “I love R&B because it got me to where I am today, but at the same time R&B just doesn’t sell.”
Based on “Where Are U Now” and “What Do You Mean?” Bieber listened to Bear. According to a Billboard preview, his album will be a mix of R&B, Pop and EDM. Poo Bear clarified that Skrillex and Diplo are huge forces on the record, with assists from hip hop production team, the Audibles, and Andre Harris. Kanye West and Rick Rubin’s involvement is said to be small.
“We just really wanted that influence — a hint of it to rub off on the music,” Boyd says of Rubin and West. “I can’t say that they played a huge role in the album, but it was just, like, pieces of them.”
Justin Bieber’s longtime respect and homaging of certain aspects of Michael Jackson’s career playbook is well known, even without the monkey stuff and hand-waving atop SUVs amid legal woes.
Suffice it to say, while Bieber’s receding Twilight Zone ride wasn’t the catastrophe of Jackson’s 1993, he is on record saying that early fame, “can completely destroy a human being. It almost destroyed me.”
In a recent tease of a radio interview with New York City station, Z100’s Mo Bounce, Bieber said his No. 1 Hot 100 debut was special to him because it was with a song written from his soul, rather than dictated to by his record label. Justin Bieber fans will no doubt see it as fitting that the young star wants to inspire others as Jackson did, with a tour de force Thriller album of his own, now that he had emerged from his hiatus — older, wiser, and stronger.
Check out the full Z100 interview below.
[Images via Getty Images]
