Hardly camera shy! Justin Bieber stripped down for the August issue of Interview magazine, posing shirtless and provocatively for a wild new photo shoot shot by acclaimed photographer Steven Klein.
The pop star, 21, stares moodily into the camera on the cover of Interview. Accompanied by a cover line reading simply, “JUSTIN!,” he runs his hand through his blonde locks and shows off his many tattoos on his arms and bare chest.
Inside the issue, Bieber catches up with Martha Stewart, of all people, who conducted the interview for the mag. The two previously spent time together at Bieber’s Comedy Central Roast this past March.
“Music was never something that I was going to do for a living,” the “Baby” singer spilled to Stewart, 73. “At 13 you’re not even thinking of that, you know. I was just playing for fun and uploading videos to YouTube because I wanted to show my family. That’s when Scooter found me.”
Famously discovered by music manager Scooter Braun, Biebs went on to reveal just how the music exec managed to convince him to leave his quiet life in Canada and transition into the international sensation he is today.
“He kind of stalked me, basically,” Bieber said of Braun, now 34. “He got in touch with a lot of people in Stratford[, Ontario] because he couldn’t get in touch with me. My mom’s last name is Mallette, and my last name is Bieber, so he contacted my great aunt, who I’d never met before. He contacted the school board. My mom was getting all these messages saying, ‘This guy named Scooter is trying to get in touch with you.’
“After a while, it got kind of creepy to my mom, so she finally gave him a call to tell him to stop calling,” the millionaire added. “She ended up talking to him for about two hours. They kept in touch, and we eventually made a trip out to Atlanta to see what he’s about and to see what kind of connections he could get.”
Braun’s connections famously came through, leading to the release of three multiplatinum studio albums and chart-topping hits such as “Boyfriend,” “Never Say Never,” and “Beauty and a Beat.” The singer is now eyeing his next studio album, his first since the 2013 compilation project, Journals.
“I’m really not worried about when it’s finished, I just want it to be perfect, so we’re taking our time with it,” he told Stewart of his record. “I’ve been working with Kanye West and Rick Rubin. We’ve gone in with a bunch of different people. I’m just trying to get the best sound and have it be consistent and make sense with what I’m going through in my life right now.”
“It’s just very personal,” Selena Gomez‘s ex-boyfriend added of his new music. “People will be able to really get in to where my heart is. It’s about my journey in life — stuff that I’ve been through. Maybe I can teach a lesson, certain things that are inspiring.”
