Justin Bieber’s “Journals” was released in full 11 years ago this month.
Over the years it has become a cult classic among both fans and non fans alike, with many false narratives tagging along.
This is a thread explaining the true history of this iconic project 🧵🪡
Over the years it has become a cult classic among both fans and non fans alike, with many false narratives tagging along.
This is a thread explaining the true history of this iconic project 🧵🪡
Background: Throughout the Believe Tour in 2012/13, Justin was experiencing depression & heartbreak. This lead him to channelling his feelings into songwriting, making his 'music journals'. He was writing 1-2 songs per day on tour and labelling them by the city he wrote them in 
The best example of this is “Memphis”, which was the only track to keep its working title.
Justin wrote this song on his tour bus in 2012. As Justin mentioned in his 2021 GQ interview, he often writes music on the bus between concerts. It was originally produced by Maejor
Justin wrote this song on his tour bus in 2012. As Justin mentioned in his 2021 GQ interview, he often writes music on the bus between concerts. It was originally produced by Maejor
It samples Siriusmo's “Nights Off”, thus why he has a writing credit. This version leaked in 2019.
A whole year later in 2013, Diplo reworked it to his production. This was when Big Sean recorded a verse he wrote with his collaborator Earlly Mac, thus their 3 writing credits.
A whole year later in 2013, Diplo reworked it to his production. This was when Big Sean recorded a verse he wrote with his collaborator Earlly Mac, thus their 3 writing credits.
Flatline is a song Justin wrote based on the heartbreak he was experiencing at this time in his life. He wrote the lyrics on his phone and previewed them in an early trailer for the Believe Movie, later releasing the song for free on iTunes on as a present for fans on Christmas.
As you can see, Flatline is one of his most personal songs, with the only other credited personnel being Josh Gudwin, his longtime mixing engineer/vocal producer, and Soundz, a prominent hip hop/R&B producer.
What’s Hatnin is a song about resolving conflict with your partner, he knows they have to put their differences aside to move forward in their relationship. This was written by Justin, with Future writing his verse and Soundz producing the song
Roller Coaster is a song about overcoming loneliness and ups and downs. It was written by Justin when he was on tour in London in early 2013, with Josh doing his mixing and Rodney Jerkins and Julkeys producing the funky beats.
One Life is another personal song, Justin wrote it about the problems he was experiencing in his toxic tumultuous relationship, and his hopes for things to get better for their future together. It was produced by Maejor and Chef Tone
Confident was written by Justin and Verse Simmonds, with Chance writing his verse and Soundz taking the reign on production. This is the most successful song from Journals to date, still getting over 700k daily streams more than a decade after it’s release despite lack of promo
Heartbreaker was the first song Justin released from his journals collection, in October 2013. It was written by Justin alongside The Dream (who worked on his breakout hit Baby), one of his best friends at the time Lil Za, and the songs producer’s Maejor, Chef Tone & T-Minus
Backpack was originally written for the Believe album but never made the cut, as he explains in this 2012 interview. Justin wrote it alongside production duo The Messengers (Nasri & Adam), with Wayne writing his verse and Adrian Eccleston contributing the guitar solo
All That Matters is a song that Justin wrote with Poo Bear, Andre Harris, and Donovan Knight. Justin said he “worked so hard on this song in the studio” trying to put his feelings into the song and hoped that translated to the audience
Swap It Out was written by Justin alongside Poo Bear and The Audibles (Dominic and James). While writing together, Justin was the driving force behind the mid tempo vibe. When teasing the song in December 2013, Justin said it was his favourite track on the album.
Recovery is a song written when Justin was “going through a very hard” time. While listening to Craig David’s “Fill Me In”, Justin randomly had the idea to flip the chords and make a whole new song from it, which he did with Poo Bear, The Audibles, and Mally Mall
And so on and so forth. You get the gist. JUSTIN was the main songwriting force on this album, and thus NOBODY should be speaking on it but him.
People like to give credit to Poo Bear for every song but the fact of the matter is he was only involved in 8 tracks, which other people including Justin himself also helped write.
People like to give credit to Poo Bear for every song but the fact of the matter is he was only involved in 8 tracks, which other people including Justin himself also helped write.
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