Justin Bieber Is Modeling His Career After Justin Timberlake’s

Justin Bieber‘s Purpose era has been led by a trio of low-key trop-house tracks, a far cry from his “Baby baby oooh” days, and even a drastic change from the hazy R&B of his equally mature Journals compilation. He’s all grown up, and his brash new genre explorations make total sense when you learn he’s taking inspiration from Justin Timberlake‘s career arc. Bieber spoke to BBC Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw Tuesday (October 27) and he discussed JT’s influence.

“He was in *NSYNC and of course they had an amazing sound but it was also, it was young. It was for teenagers,” Bieber said. “And I feel when he transitioned and started making ‘SexyBack’ and stuff, he really found something that was unique to what he was feeling and what he wanted to do. So I think it takes time as an artist to develop your style and develop what you like and what you don’t like.”

The fact that Bieber is looking to JT’s pop growth doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. Timberlake basically set the modern standard for the bubble gum teen-to-serious artist transition, so you see former heartthrobs like Bieber and Nick Jonas following the path he laid out a decade ago.

But we’ll have to wait until November 13 to find out if Purpose is Bieber’s FutureSex/LoveSounds.

Watch the full interview below, in which he also confirms Kanye West is working on the star-studded LP.

[via Billboard]