Justin Bieber and his longtime manager, Scooter Braun, deal up gritty reveals in a new cover story interview with The Hollywood Reporter . The most soundbite-worthy being the singer’s message to haters,”I don’t give a f— what they say.”
But the in-depth piece offers much more than that definitive missive. It’s basically required reading for anyone curious about the 19-year-old’s state of mind (most pop culture addicts then), following headlines generated by the scorched earth Latin America leg of his equally dramatic Believe tour.
With Justin’s latest gifts to the news cycle in mind — alleged strippers at his Calabasas, California home (and obligatory police visits over loud music), and a corrective tweet after saying he met up with Mexico’s President (he didn’t) — here’s a scope at the most revealing takeaways from his and Braun’s earthiest interview in nine months.
Scroll through for the shocker, if you feel like cheating.
On his love of “Urban” style, onesies, ‘swag,’ and general bro ‘tude, the Stratford native is upfront, (take that Sharon Osbourne), and says:
“I’m very influenced by black culture, but I don’t think of it as black or white. It’s not me trying to act or pose in a certain way. It’s a lifestyle — like a suaveness or a swag, per se. But I don’t really like to say the word [‘swag’] anymore. It’s kind of played out.”
As IQ previously noted, considering Bieber grew up listening to a range of artists including Tupac, Chris Brown, his music hero, Michael Jackson, and was mentored by Usher after being discovered on YouTube in 2007 by Braun, it remains curious so many still find the singer’s openness to black culture so odd.
Later in the interview, while playing latest jam “PYD” — a duet with veteran superstar R. Kelly from his 10-week “Music Mondays” series — Justin says of the erotic slow-jam ,
“I was going for a modern Boyz II Men sound,” he reveals, adding, “I’m really influenced by R&B, but I love everybody — from Michael Jackson to The Beatles to, like, Led Zeppelin and Korn.”
On haters and tsunami of tabloid coverage over stories such as the alleged ‘spitting on fans’ claims in July during a Toronto tour stop, an exodus from a Brazil brothel under a sheet, Anne Frank and more, Bieber and Braun got stuck in:
“I don’t give a f—,” says Bieber about detractors and his negative press. “Not ‘I don’t give a f—‘ to just be reckless and do whatever, but ‘I don’t give a f— what they say.’ … I know who I am and what I’m doing in my life and what I’ve accomplished and continue to accomplish as a performer, as a writer, as an artist, as a person, as a human being. I’m happy with the man I’m becoming.”
Aware of the economic relationship between website traffic and that value to advertisers, he adds,
“When people see a negative thing about me on a magazine, they’re gonna buy it. Every time some site writes something bad, all my followers go on there, and it brings them more traffic. Now they have all the Beliebers [fans] on their site which gives them money from advertisers.”
“They’re just worried about money. They don’t care about ruining someone’s name,” Bieber notes.
At this point, Braun shares his take on some of Bieber’s worst headlines, adding that he thinks his behavior is an emotional response to mockery and criticism:
“I think his moments of anger come from his resentment toward the ridicule [and] of being judged for things, which a lot of times he hasn’t even done,”
On ‘Spitting on fans’ accusations : “Justin was playing the loogie game with his friends over the freaking porch! They put two separate pictures together, implied something, and the whole world ran with it,” he says.
Click here to read IQ’s breakdown of that controversy.
On the Canadian’s brothel visit: THR reports a source says he “had no idea” the members only club offered sex.
On the hysteria over the singer’s guestbook entry at the Anne Frank museum:
“At the end [of the museum tour], he felt very connected to [Anne],” Braun recalls. “They had just showed him the pictures of movie stars in her room, and they said: ‘Maybe you would have been on that wall, Justin. She might have been a fan of yours.’ And he was touched by that.”
On Bieber’s apology for the Bill Clinton cleaning-fluid touch-up, “The moment it [the story] came out, Justin called Bill Clinton to say, ‘I made a dumb mistake,’” Braun says .
THR noted the pop star’s lengthy Twitter apology following accusations that he disrespected Argentina’s flag at a November 9 concert after he swept the thrown items off the stage with his feet and a microphone stand.
On Bieber’s celebrity pep talk candidates — namely, Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Eminem, Adam Levine, Oprah Winfrey and Drake, with Smith stepping up for weekly mentoring phone calls (Scientology is a no-go), Braun says that:
Around the time Justin returned from tour during a particularly tough time in May—[notably, on the heels of ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez’s visits to see him on tour in April and her later affirmation to a radio station that she was single on returning to the US] — Braun said Smith turned up at Bieber’s and dragged him out of bed for a three-hour chat.
Bieber’s reaction, according to Braun: “He said, ‘Man, that makes me feel so loved. I woke up, and there’s Will Smith, one of, if not the , biggest movie stars on the planet. He took time out of his day for me.”
As it turns out Eminem — who many thought despised the “Boyfriend” star after rapping “Evil runs through him. Him don’t give a damn how Bieber doing,” in his 2011 track “A Kiss” — has offered to talk to the singer, as likely thanks for Justin’s face-time with his daughter Hailie, who is a fan.
Braun told THR that, Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg, said: “If you ever want Eminem to talk to him, he would do it in a second. He cares about that kid.”
(Photo: Instagram)
Jon M. Chu — who helmed Bieber’s first mega-grossing 2011 feature, Never Say Never , and directed the Christmas Day debuting Believe movie, which will address some of the singer’s controversies — offers:
“What’s compelling is to see Justin not as an object for us to judge, to harp on and destroy but somebody whom we have responsibility for because we ultimately put him there. We click on those links. We fuel that fire.”
Braun revealed there have been difficulties in his relationship with Bieber, as he aged up from the 12-year-old boy he first met and began to chafe under his guidance:
“When Justin was younger, it was, ‘Keep him out of trouble, stop him from falling down, protect him as much as you can from anything that can hurt him,’” Braun says. “When I try to do that now, he’s resentful, he pushes away and rebels. What I’ve come to learn is: Be there, give the best advice you can, but he has to be allowed to make his own decisions — and his own mistakes.”
He continues, “I saw the rebellion, I saw our relationship being hurt. We were struggling in talking to each other because I wasn’t having conversations about anything good anymore. It was constantly calling to say, ‘No!’”
(Photo: Justin and Scooter, circa 2010).
Bieber agrees, revealing:
“Scooter was like the father figure in my life,” [Note: Shockingly, Braun says he doesn’t sleep until he knows the singer’s nightly excursions are over.] “But when I started to grow up, it was hard for him to have to listen to my input. I want to be me, to show everybody who I am as an individual. I don’t want to just be a puppet.
The singer opened up about his trust issues, [ IQ notes two false paternity claims, a proportion of inflated or invented gossip stories ], and Braun’s reveal that a former pal of Bieber’s who sold the mop bucket footage to TMZ made $40,000. Justin said:
That through “just living,” he has learned “you shouldn’t trust anybody.” He adds : “I trust my mom and dad. I trust Scooter with my career; he’s always made sure I’m taken care of.” After pausing, the young singer concludes, “That’s it.”
Saving the second ‘shocker’ for last. In response to a query on whether he would ever tread the missile songwriting approach taken by Taylor Swift and (sometimes) Miley Cyrus (it seems THR hasn’t heard Bieber’s gorgeous but deadly ‘ All Bad ‘), he replied:
“That’s not what I represent,” the singer adds.” What I represent is positivity and brightness and lightness and amazingness. Nothing negative at all.”
To read The Hollywood Reporter’s interview in full, visit here .