Will.i.am’s Justin Bieber Collabo Leaks: Hear “You And Me” And Immediately Regret It

Carl Williott | September 21, 2012 6:00 am

Will.i.am was understandably furious about his #willpower songs leaking, and said he’d head back into the studio for rewrites and to come up with new material. After listening to “You And Me,” his collaboration with Justin Bieber, we’re thinking that’s a good thing.

Because either “You And Me” is not ready for the world, or the world is not ready for “You And Me.” Over a bed of video game blips, the first words out of will.i.am’s Auto-Tuned mouth are “Hashtag / You and me” followed by “Our love is trending.” Will always delivers his songs with unwavering confidence, but here it seems even he wasn’t buying into the nonsense, as he lethargically drones Twitter buzzwords like a sad robot powering down. Upon first listen, we legitimately thought it was a will.i.am parody. And that’s just the first 25 seconds! Subject yourselves to the full song after the jump.

Yes, we realize we’re listening to an unfinished product here, but we’re not sure this song is salvageable. A hyper-processed Bieber is tossed to the side and primarily relegated to crooning three words:  “You and me.” We’re pretty sure there’s a piano and acoustic guitar hiding in there, but it’s hard to tell with the abrasive analog beeps and percussive blasts of radio fuzz. And as for the lyrics (see also: “What the lovebirds say? / Tweet”), they’re laughable even for drive-time electro-pop. That sound you hear is R2-D2 cringing.