Music: {allcanada} Justin Bieber smooches Christmas under 'Mistletoe'

Monday, October 31, 2011

{allcanada} Justin Bieber smooches Christmas under 'Mistletoe'

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Outside, the weather is delightful — shorts and flip-flop fare — but Justin Bieber is all about the frightful.

"I love Christmas, being with my family up in Canada," says Bieber, 17, sprawled on a couch at the offices of Universal Music Group. "To me, Christmas is about giving."

This year, the teen phenom's gift to his legions (13 million Twitter followers and 36 million Facebook fans) is Under the Mistletoe, out Tuesday, a holiday album packing retooled classics, original compositions and plenty of collaborations.

He's kicking off a companion Believe Charity Drive at justinbiebermusic.com, where fans are encouraged to donate to seven charities he'll be supporting with some proceeds from the new disc. (Believe is the title of Bieber's next studio album, expected in early 2012.)

"To help people have food on their plate at that time of year is really special," Bieber says.

"I just helped a food drive in Stratford, Ontario, which is (where) my mom and I got food, so that was special for me," Bieber says.

His significant recasting of some holiday chestnuts will appeal to "a new generation of Christmas listener that wants their own thing," says Billboard editor Danyel Smith. "This is the hottest teen star in the world offering up some familiar songs, but also a lot of new sounds."

Fresh off a world tour and a summer of tabloid attention, Bieber strikes a noticeably older demeanor. His famous hair is short in the back, and his once-cherubic features are starting to thin out.

That maturity is also in evidence on Under the Mistletoe, a showcase for not only Bieber's songwriting but also his drumming (on a wildly street Little Drummer Boy, with rapper Busta Rhymes) and producing (on All I Want Is You).

"Most of the songs I collaborated on, but on (All I Want Is You), I was all by myself, doing the beat, the piano, the singing," he says. "It felt good."

There's an urban, youth-oriented vibe to his tweaked The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) with Usher. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town samples early Jackson 5 hits. And Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You gets Bieber-fied when he joins in on vocals.

"Nothing too corny," he promises.

While Bieber is looking forward to the holidays back home in Canada — "I still haven't bought a house yet, it could be there, or in L.A. or in Atlanta, we'll see" — his next album is very much front and center.

"I'm about halfway through," he says. "I'm experimenting. What's big right now are beats that are in the clubs, like dubstep. So I want to mess with that stuff, but also stay me."