Justin Bieber has premiered the video for “Peaches,” one of the songs off his just-released album Justice.
The Canadian singer paired up with fellow Canadian singer Daniel Caesar, as well as Giveon (who last year guested on another Canadian’s track – Drake’s “Chicago Freestyle”).
The video was directed by Bieber’s frequent collaborator, Colin Tilley.
“I get my peaches out in Georgia, ooh, yeah, s**t / I get my weed from California, that's that s**t,” sings Bieber. “I took my chick up to the North, yeah, bad a** b**ch / I get my light right from the source, yeah, yeah that’s it.”
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Justice is Bieber’s sixth studio album and comes only 13 months after the release of Changes. It also dropped exactly 11 years after his debut My World 2.0.
“I named it Justice because there’s so much injustice in this world and there has been since the beginning of time," Bieber told reporters in a Zoom session. "My name actually means justice, so there’s that.
"I’m really honoured to play a small part and be able to make music that inspires and can uplift people in this time."
In addition to “Peaches” and the previously released singles “Holy” ft. Chance the Rapper, “Lonely” ft. Benny Blanco and “Anyone,” Justice has collaborations with Khalid, Dominic Fike, Beam and Burna Boy. (A version of the album sold in Japan and at U.S. Walmart stores comes with a song called "Hailey.")
Skrillex produced three tracks on the album and there are creative contributions from names like Ryan Tedder, Finneas and Charlie Puth.
The album opens with a clip of Martin Luther King Jr. saying “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The late civil rights leader shows up again on a track titled "MLK Interlude."
Bieber said he included the MLK clips to amplify his words to a new generation. “Being Canadian, it wasn’t so much a part of my culture,” he said. “His message was that a lot of people can be afraid to stand up for what is right, but if you’re not standing up for justice — for what is right — what are you doing with your life? I’m sorry to get so deep, but these are the times we’re living in.
“That’s why I wanted to make this album because I think it’s very timely and very necessary.”
(On Thursday, Bieber tweeted his support for The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, which replied: "Thank you, @justinbieber, for your support, in honor of #Justice, of our work and our #BeLove campaign, which is a part of our global movement for justice.")
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In November, Bieber earned Grammy nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album (for Changes), Pop Solo Performance (“Yummy”) and Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Intentions” ft. Quavo) but Bieber complained that he was not recognized in the R&B categories.
“I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was and is an R&B album,” he wrote in a message on Instagram. “It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to me. For this not to be put into that category feels weird considering from the chords to the melodies to the vocal style all the way down to the hip hop drums that were chosen it is undeniably, unmistakably an R&B album!”
(Bieber’s only Grammy win last Sunday was for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for his collaboration with Dan+Shay, “10,000 Hours.”)
In early March, Bieber released “Hold On,” which interpolates the 2011 hit “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye, which itself samples 1967’s “Seville” by the late Brazilian musician Luiz Bonfá.
“Hold On” had a disappointing debut at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Before it, “Anyone” managed to peak at No. 6 but is currently No. 38 after 10 weeks on the chart.
Last March, eight U.S. stadium shows on his Changes tour had to be downgraded to arenas due to poor ticket sales, according to Variety. (Billboard reported the same earlier this month.) Currently, thousands of seats remain unsold for each of Bieber’s five concerts in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal in July.
The pressure is on, therefore, for Justice to prevail on the Billboard 200 album chart. All five of Bieber’s previous studio albums went to No. 1, as did 2011’s Never Say Never: The Remixes and 2013’s Believe Acoustic.
Last February, Bieber became the youngest artist to earn seven No. 1 albums, breaking a record set nearly 60 years ago by Elvis Presley.
Check out the video for “Peaches” below: (Warning: Contains language some may find offensive.)