At least, that’s the impression Bieber has been giving his fans.
“My acoustic album will let u know how I feel about what is going on in my life instead of rumors guessing,” the 18-year-old Canadian superstar tweeted recently, according to MTV.
Bieber also told Billboard, “I’m not in the happiest place that I’ve ever been. I’m trying to get through what I’m going through.”
Of course, we all know he’s talking about his breakup with Selena Gomez.
Fans and websites have been parsing lyrics and YouTube versions of new songs like “Yellow Raincoat” and “Nothing Like Us” for clues to Bieber’s heartbreak.
“Lately I’ve been thinking, thinking about what we had. I know it was hard, it was all that we knew. Have you been drinkin? To take all the pain away,” Bieber sings in a mature-sounding voice over piano instrumentation on “Nothing Like Us.”
Believe Acoustic includes 11 tracks: eight unplugged versions of songs from last year’s Believe, plus the three new songs (including “I Would”).
A cover story in Billboard says the album is expected to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200: “This will mean that (Bieber’s) charted a new No. 1 album for four years in a row, and that he’ll have his fifth No. 1 album overall. That’s more than any other artist has achieved before turning 19.”
Belieber hysteria has cranked into overdrive in recent weeks, with unrelenting rumours about his personal life, including the breakup with Gomez, a leaked photo of Bieber smoking what appeared to be a joint and multiple leaked songs (you can listen to “Nothing Like Us” at http://bit.ly/ViPam0).
Bieber will perform and host Saturday Night Live on Feb. 9, the first time he’s performed the coveted double-duty.
It could be a busy week for new releases. Kevin Shields, frontman of alt-rock demigods My Bloody Valentine, said recently the band’s new album might be out in the next couple of days.