Singer Justin Bieber released his “Where Are You Now” music video on Monday, June 29. The single is the second track on Skrillex and Diplo’s album entitled “Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü.” The video features Justin Bieber dancing in paint. It is a homage to all of his fans as it showcases their creative artwork and messages. An event invited fans to the Jack Ü headquarters to customize photos of Bieber with crayons and pastels on May 29-31, 2015.
The music video shows fans creating messages and pictures in a gallery. Bieber appears depressed as he stands in a colorless void. He does not smile and looks up to the camera with forlorn eyes. Multiple messages flicker on screen like “lift me” and “help me 2 stay strong.” The images and notes throughout the video characterize multiple emotions.
The arrangement of the messages depict Bieber’s life in the past two years as one message states “2013 was practice 2014 was the warm up.” Pictures show his struggles with temptation, women, and love. At one point Bieber is seen closely examining a money sign underneath a microscope and afterwards a message flashes that says “false god.”
One segment of the video shows a conflicted side of Bieber as he keeps shifting from having angel wings and a halo to sprouting the horns of a devil. He is caught between a battle of good and evil while a message reads “not a monster” and “am only human.” A cross symbol is also seen with words like “believe,” “God,” “Lord,” and “prayer,” along with Bieber raising both arms upwards as though in surrender.
He did not shy away from calling out Selena Gomez, his ex-girlfriend in the lyrics and the cryptic messages in the video. At 3:44, “I want you to know Jelena 5ever!” is crossed out with a large purple “X.” The note refers to a song Gomez recorded with her past love interest Zedd. Another message reads “Where are you Selena?”
Towards the end of the video, a pair of hands wrap themselves around Bieber’s neck and ultimately choke him. In another scene, Bieber is seen racing towards a black and white checkered finish line. Lighthearted images were messages in Japanese, McDonalds logo, Simpsons characters, references to superheroes, and a rubix cube.
“Where Are You Now” was written by Bieber, Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, Sonny Moore, Thomas Wesley Pentz, Karl Rubin Brutus, and Jordan Ware. The producers of the single are Skrillex, Diplo, Karl Rubin Brutus, and Jordan Ware. The song was originally recorded as a ballad, but was reworked after he decided to send it over to Skrillex and Diplo. The EDM song was released on February 2015.
