After 30 long days of anticipation, Justin Bieber’s latest single, What Do You Mean, has finally been released. On August 28th at six in the morning, the song premiered on a wide variety of radio stations, including ‘On Air with Ryan Seacrest’, where Bieber had first announced the news of his single last month. What Do You Mean broke the record for the fastest single to reach number one in the United States and 56 other countries. It has had the number one spot at the top of Billboard’s Trending 140 list for the entire week before it was out. After a full month of intense promotion, it is finally time to hear the start of what could be the greatest comeback of the decade.
Throughout the entire month of August, it was nearly impossible to go a day without seeing or hearing about a new celebrity posting a picture or video for the promotion of Justin Bieber’s new song coming out. One glance at Justin’s Instagram shows an incredibly wide variety of fellow musicians, actors, athletes, models, and other stars around the world showing their love and support for his latest single, What Do You Mean. The promotion for this single has been taking a new approach with the wide variety of celebrities involved. Bieber also took to Twitter a week before the release to send cryptic pictures with a clock and lyrics to nearly 50 people, including many fans. The fans worked to put the lyrics in order going by the image on the clock to get the full lyrics. All of this promotion seems to be straying away from the seemingly more popular aspect of surprise, known by some as the “Beyoncé approach”, of releasing singles or albums without warning. But Bieber and his team are confident the hype was worth it.
This year has been big in helping JB make a comeback, especially from the rough patches back in 2013. Think: the craziest party guy you know. Now give him thousands of girls and millions of dollars. Not so great. Between poor decisions and the media ravishing in his every mistake to tear him apart, JB’s image was down the drain by the end of 2013. Now, he’s back on track and trying to show the world what kind of guy he really is. He started 2015 by guest starring on the Ellen DeGeneres Show every week for nearly a month straight and he will be returning during the premiere week of Ellen’s 13th season. This past March, Biebs suffered through the hilarious and brutally honest Bieber Roast on Comedy Central. He collaborated with Skrillex and Diplo to bring us the summer hit Where Are Ü Now. He’s managed to stay out of trouble and get back into the limelight with a good reputation. As his manager Scooter Braun recently quoted, “a man is defined by how he rises from a fall; we don’t give up on people we care about.”
Bieber performed on the MTV VMA’s this past Sunday. It was his first time back on the stage in five years and emotions ran high as he shed some tears after singing a medley of Where Are Ü Now and What Do You Mean. Bieber’s team say that he “didn’t know how people would accept him. When he saw them on their feet cheering, he was overwhelmed.” Besides being slightly out of breath between dancing and singing as he’s just getting back into performance shape, Billboard rated his performance as the best of the show. After the VMA’s, the steamy music video for the new single dropped as well, following Justin as he and his love interest get kidnapped.
What Do You Mean has an updated sound from Biebers last studio album, Believe. His fresh lyrics dig deep into his thoughts, potentially based on his late relationship with Selena Gomez. With lines like “wanna argue all day and make love all night”, it’s clear that the Biebs has matured greatly from his Baby singing days. Bieber also announced that his new album will be released on November 13th, 2015. We can’t wait to hear more of this new sound!