Justin Bieber smooches Christmas under 'Mistletoe' - USA Today

<p>SANTA MONICA, Calif.&#13; –&#13; Outside, the weather is delightful — shorts and flip-flop fare — but Justin Bieber is all about the frightful.</p><div id=""><p class="inside-copy">"I love Christmas, being with my family up in Canada," says Bieber, 17, sprawled on a couch at the offices of Universal Music Group. "To me, Christmas is about giving."</p><p class="inside-copy">This year, the teen phenom's gift to his legions (13 million Twitter followers and 36 million Facebook fans) is <i>Under the Mistletoe</i>, out Tuesday, a holiday album packing retooled classics, original compositions and plenty of collaborations.</p><p class="inside-copy"> He's kicking off a companion Believe Charity Drive at justinbiebermusic.com, where fans are encouraged to donate to seven charities he'll be supporting with some proceeds from the new disc. (<i>Believe</i> is the title of Bieber's next studio album, expected in early 2012.)</p><p class="inside-copy">"To help people have food on their plate at that time of year is really special," Bieber says.</p><p class="inside-copy">"I just helped a food drive in Stratford, Ontario, which is (where) my mom and I got food, so that was special for me," Bieber says.</p><p class="inside-copy"> His significant recasting of some holiday chestnuts will appeal to "a new generation of Christmas listener that wants their own thing," says <i>Billboard</i> editor Danyel Smith. "This is the hottest teen star in the world offering up some familiar songs, but also a lot of new sounds."</p><p class="inside-copy">Fresh off a world tour and a summer of tabloid attention, Bieber strikes a noticeably older demeanor. His famous hair is short in the back, and his once-cherubic features are starting to thin out.</p><p class="inside-copy">That maturity is also in evidence on <i>Under the Mistletoe</i>, a showcase for not only Bieber's songwriting but also his drumming (on a wildly street <i>Little Drummer Boy</i>, with rapper Busta Rhymes) and producing (on <i>All I Want Is You</i>).</p><p class="inside-copy">"Most of the songs I collaborated on, but on (<i>All I Want Is You</i>), I was all by myself, doing the beat, the piano, the singing," he says. "It felt good."</p><p class="inside-copy"> There's an urban, youth-oriented vibe to his tweaked <i>The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)</i> with Usher. <i>Santa Claus Is Coming to Town</i> samples early Jackson 5 hits. And Mariah Carey's <i>All I Want for Christmas Is You</i> gets Bieber-fied when he joins in on vocals.</p><p class="inside-copy"> "Nothing too corny," he promises. </p><p class="inside-copy">While Bieber is looking forward to the holidays back home in Canada — "I still haven't bought a house yet, it could be there, or in L.A. or in Atlanta, we'll see" — his next album is very much front and center.</p><p class="inside-copy">"I'm about halfway through," he says. "I'm experimenting. What's big right now are beats that are in the clubs, like dubstep. So I want to mess with that stuff, but also stay me."</p></div>