Normally this would be indicative of a scattered and disjointed album, but in fact, Purpose hangs together pretty well, which probably contributed to the album’s remarkable commercial success. In addition to Skrillex there were dozens of others, amongst them Diplo, Ed Sheeran, Benny Blanco, Soundz, Mike Dean, Michael ‘Blood Pop’ Tucker and Ian Kirkpatric. Gudwin, Poo Bear and Bieber engaged a proliferation of songwriters and producers in the making of Purpose that is impressive even by the sprawling standards of 21st Century pop/R&B albums. Producer, engineer and mixer Josh Gudwin has been Justin Bieber’s right-hand man for many years.
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But Justin was directly involved with the entire process of making the album and he has full accountability on this one.” Poo Bear and I knew what Justin liked, and we brought in many other songwriters, and when Skrillex came in it went one step up again. In the end it took Justin about two years to get clear on where he wanted to go. There were some songs, mostly written by Poo Bear, that rose to the top, and we realised we had to build around them. We had discussions along the lines of helping Justin to find his feet and direction, but a lot of what we did was just writing and recording new songs, and seeing what came out. “Poo Bear also was central in the making of the album, and Scooter always gave opinions and suggestions. In the end, Justin didn’t want outside people around who he doesn’t know that well, so I was fortunate to be in a position to really support his vision and help him create a solid body of work. It was just a matter of seeing what was out there. We also did not use any material that come out of the writing camps. Kanye and Justin hook up from time to time and develop big creative plans, but they both end up doing their own things, so nothing ever comes of them. “The sessions with Rick were Scooter’s idea, and while he and Justin were working I was literally just sitting on Rick’s couch and watching. However, his first meeting with Bieber in 2010 proved the most significant of his career to date, and Gudwin has since worked with Bieber on studio, remix and compilation albums like Under The Mistletoe, Never Say Never: The Remixes, Believe, Believe Acoustic, Journals, and Live At Madison Square Garden.įrom his home studio in Los Angeles, Gudwin recalls the earliest beginnings of what was to become Bieber’s first adult album. In the process Gudwin clocked up an array of big-name credits, including TI, Lionel Richie, T-Pain, Quincy Jones, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Carly Rae Jepsen, Celine Dion and Pharrell Williams. The engineer and mixer has enjoyed a fairly meteoric career, studying at Florida’s Full Sail University during 2005-2006, interning at Track Records Studio in LA, working with songwriter Esther Dean, and most of all studying for two years with America’s number one vocal producer, Kuk Harrell. Josh Gudwin has been Bieber’s sidekick for half a decade. It earned him an unusual ‘album producer’ credit. This involved logistics, taking care of album A&R, engineering all the overdubs to the writers’ backing tracks, including Bieber’s vocals, mixing most of the songs, and in general being responsible for delivering the album. On the writing side, this meant a central role for Jason ‘Poo Bear’ Boyd, while Josh Gudwin held everything together on the studio and production side. In the end, however, Bieber reduced his team to the bare essentials: just two guys with whom he felt entirely at ease. Writing camps were organised, and Bieber spent time working with household names like Rick Rubin and Kanye West. Unsurprisingly, Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, and record company took no chances, and explored all possible avenues to make sure the new album would be a success. Three years after his previous studio album, Purpose was to be his first fully fledged adult project, and likely career-defining. Bieber’s fourth studio album, released last November, was thus a make-or-break proposition. Since breaking through to an international audience in 2009 at the tender age of 15, Justin Bieber has at times demonstrated how not to grow up in public. In a transition overseen by long-term collaborator Josh Gudwin, teenage prodigy Justin Bieber has become a grown-up pop star. Most of Justin Bieber’s vocals on Purpose were recorded in Studio 3 at the Record Plant in LA.