Justin Bieber has nearly finished recording an album with Kanye West and Rick Rubin. “I don’t want to say ‘it’s different’, because that’s what everyone says. But it is different, it’s a grown-up version of Justin and I think people will be shocked,” Bieber told USA Today.
Bieber said changes to his lifestyle, following a well publicised period of misbehaviour, had been reflected in his music. “My whole direction has changed. What you are thinking about all the time is what you write, and now that I’m thinking about more positive things, it completely changes my music,” he said.
In fact, Bieber, said, he had to rerecord his album to reflect his newly positive outlook on life. “I had to re-do my whole album,” he said. “It was done but it didn’t match up to where I am now and where my head’s at. I want to tell my story, but I also want to give people hope. I lost hope for a while, I was in a dark place, but it’s about getting out of that rut. It’s about knowing there’s sunshine on the other side.”
The songs on the new album, Bieber said, are about “growing, being in touch with yourself” and “life experiences”.
It first became clear Bieber was working with producer Rick Rubin – who has worked on landmark albums by the Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, Slayer and Jay Z, among many others – in January, when Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun posted a photo of Rubin and his young charge on Instagram with the caption: “working on some history!”
It is unclear at this stage whether Bieber’s album is more likely to build on the sonic extremity of Slayer’s Reign in Blood or set a new standard in hip-hop like Jay Z’s 99 Problems. The presence of Kanye West makes the latter more likely.
