THE LATEST (10/16)

Justin Bieber's forthcoming Purpose album is up for pre-order which means we have a little more info about the LP. Scroll below for the partial tracklist that includes a new song title "Sorry."

Read on for everything else you need to know about Purpose, dropping next month.

THE BUILDUP

It's almost Bieber season, you can feel it in the air. 

After a very stormy 2013 and 2014, Justin Bieber's been using 2015 to showcase himself in a better light. Along the way, the pop superstar and his team have been hinting that new music was on its way. Regarding the follow up to his 2013 album Journals, which was revealed song by song until its accompanying compilation LP was released at the end of the year, the singer's remained mostly mum on the topic. His manager Scooter Braun (who's also responsible for Ariana Grande, Tori Kelly and Psy) has been offering hints about Bieber's 2015 like the tweet below:

Throughout the year, Bieber's focused on re-establishing himself as humble (he willingly signed up for a Comedy Central roast), charitable (the longtime philanthropist earned extra points by visiting a burn victim on The Doctors) and as a sex symbol—see his shirtless Calvin Klein ad below:

THE MUSIC

Justin's remained mostly vague on details about the album, but gave a few guideposts in a new interview at 2015 Wango Tango, his first solo performance stage in months. 

"Overall, I'm just happy with the place I'm at creatively. I feel like this is probably the best I've been. There's not really a direction. It's like, uplifting music that people can dance to...it's a little different, it's really uplifting and people are going to smile when they listen to it."

Bieber added that while he might have acted out and rebelled from being unhappy or media scrutiny, he said he's now "using my voice in my music rather than out here in the world."

The first taste of new Bieber music came via his collaboration with Jack Ü (the super DJ duo of Diplo and Skrillex) and their track "Where Are Ü Now." Listen below if you haven't heard the hit, Bieber's first Top 40 hit since 2013:

When asked if "Where Are Ü Now" indicates the sound on his upcoming album, Bieber said that there will be "snippets of that type of stuff" (presumably EDM) but that that the LP will be "really musical [with] a lot of real instrumentation."

When it comes to inspiration, the singer's most famous ex Selena Gomez put their tumultuous on record with her single "The Heart Wants What It Wants." Bieber said he wouldn't have a direct response to the track, but did offer this about Selena's influence:

"A lot of my inspiration comes from her. It was a long relationship and a relationship that created heartbreak and created happiness, and a lot of different emotions that I wanted to write about. So there's a lot of that on this album."

First Single: "What Do You Mean"

On October 12, Bieber revealed a new song snippet that seems to be just as promising as "What Do You Mean?" In a new video uploaded to the singer's Instagram, Bieber is seen dancing shirtless (of course) to a banging, tribal-influenced production where we hear him croon, "Is it too late to say I'm sorry now?"

Describing it as "uptempo" and "fun and summery," Bieber gave a little more explanation about the meaning and his the LP's first single the song's meaning and his goals for it:

"Well, girls are often just flip-floppy. They say something then they mean something else. It's like what do you mean?

"I'm trying to have a consistent sound and I get kind of depressed cause I'm so…like, I want it to work so badly. You know, I want people to love it, and inspire people and sometimes I feel like, 'Is this good enough? Is this the direction I want to go?'"

"What Do You Mean" is produced by Poo Bear, who featured on the 2014 Bieber song "Hard 2 Face Reality," and is set to be released to retails on August 28. 

On August 6, USA Today described it as a "catchy dance track for the club," which echoes Bieber's initial reviews. The newspaper also revealed a few lyrics from the song 

"What do you mean? / You don't want me to move, but you tell me to go / What do you mean? / You nod your head yes, but you wanna say no."

THE COLLABORATORS

-Kanye West: Bieber confirmed he was working with Yeezy during a chat with Ryan Seacrest. Here's what he said about working with 'Ye:

"I've been in the studio with him for the past month or so. I think that he just pushes you. He definitely wants it to be my way and my direction and he doesn't want to steal what I want...that's why artists love to go to him, because he pulls something out of you that other people don't."

-Rick Rubin: Biebs brought in "the man" Rick Rubin to help produce his album, seemingly confirmed by an Instagram picture from Scooter in early 2015. Bieber later confirmed he did some tracks with the producer and was still "bouncing back ideas" as of early May. 

The beloved rock producer has worked on recent blockbuster albums like Adele's 21, Ed Sheeran's x, Lana Del Rey's Paradise and executive produced Kanye's Yeezus album. 

-Skrillex: Bieber revealed at Wango Tango he was recently in the studio with the EDM wunderkind. During an appearance on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, he gushed that "Skrillex is a genius. He's super futuristic and and I just love his sounds. I think being able to incorporate that sound with what I'm doing has been super cool because it's like new and fresh, and I feel like no one's done it before." It's rumored that he's 

-Diplo: The singer added that Diplo couldn't make the aforementioned Skrillex session, but that they'll link up in the studio soon. It won't be the first time they've worked as the Major Lazer maestro was a co-producer and co-writer on "Thought of You," a track off JB's 2012 Believe album.

-Ariana Grande: Bieber teased a remix with the pop princess before his album went for pre-order. The partial tracklist revealed a remix of "What Do You Mean?" that will close the album.

-Prince Jackson (Rumored): Yes, Prince Jackson as in Michael Jackson's son. According to the tabloid Page Six, Jackson shared studio time with Bieber.

-Ed Sheeran (Rumored): A purported list of collaborators sees the "Thinking Out Loud" singer co-writing one track with Bieber.

-Big Sean (Rumored): That list also has Sean on a track on Purpose. The two last worked together on "As Long as You Love Me" off Bieber's 2012 album Believe.

-Nas (Rumored): That same rumored list of collaborators has the classic rapper featured on a Purpose bonus track.

THE COVER ART

On October 9, the cover art for Justin Bieber's Purpose arrived via nine consecutive Instagram posts. Bieber tapped L.A. artist RETNA for the piece.

Hit Justin Bieber's Instagram to see three two color-tinted variants on the cover.

THE TRACKLIST

Purpose went for pre-order on iTunes on October 16. While the full track names weren't revealed, we did learn how many songs will be on the standard and deluxe version. We also learned the new song title "Sorry" as well that "Where Are U Now" and an Ariana Grande-assisted remix of "What Do You Mean?" will be included.

1. TBA
2. TBA
3. What Do You Mean?
4. Sorry
5. TBA
6. TBA
7. TBA
8. TBA
9. TBA
10. TBA
11. Where Are U Now? (Skrillex, Justin Bieber & Diplo)
12. TBA
13. TBA
14. TBA
15. TBA
16. TBA
17. TBA
18. TBA
19. What Do You Mean? (Remix)

THE RELEASE DATE

During a May 9 Wango Tango interview Bieber said, "We're just wrapping it up now so it's in the final-touch stage...it's soon."

On a September 3 interview on the Tonight Show, Bieber revealed the LP was dropping on November 13, which was in line with a previous report from Billboard.

Keep checking back for up-to-date info on Justin's upcoming release!

More of Fuse's Complete Album Guides:

• The Complete Guide to Rihanna's New Album
• The Complete Guide to 5 Seconds of Summer's New Album
• The Complete Guide to Kanye West's Swish