Justin Bieber is the first to admit that there are a wide variety of sounds and musicians that influenced his latest release, Believe. When he stopped by MTV's Times Square studio for the 30-minute special "Bieber Live" on Tuesday night (June 19) — which he kicked off with a stripped-down performance of "Die in Your Arms" — Bieber shared a few behind-the-music secrets about his process of writing and recording the song with legendary producer Rodney Jerkins.
"Before I got in the booth, [Rodney] showed me this hour-long video of Michael [Jackson] footage, never been seen before. It's Michael's personality, him in the booth dancing. It's some really special stuff," Bieber recalled. "So me seeing that, going in there and being inspired and working with Rodney, who worked with Michael — it was incredible."
The 18-year-old also commented on an incredible compliment from Roots drummer ?uestlove, who recently tweeted Bieber's praise in the form of a challenge to his fellow hip-hop artists: "Dear hip hop, why are @justinbieber's drums on 'right here' more crispier & cleaner & louder and better than 96% of what was made in 2012?"
"To hear that from ?uest, he's a legend. I think it's great," Bieber said. "I basically focused on this album for everything to be perfect. To work with these producers that can give me that urban sound but also make it me, that's what we did. I got to work with amazing artists like Drake [who's featured on 'Right Here'], and I feel like the world, I don't know if they're ready for it."
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