Justin Bieber - Beauty And A Beat ft. Nicki Minaj

What this video is

Released October 12, 2012, as the third single from Bieber's third studio album Believe (Island Records), 'Beauty and a Beat' arrived at a pivotal inflection point in his career—a deliberate commercial and artistic repositioning from acoustic teen balladeer toward EDM-influenced adult pop. The track was originally written by Zedd for his own debut album Clarity before being reworked for Bieber's team, embedding…

Why it matters

A landmark document of EDM-pop's mainstream absorption circa 2012, 'Beauty and a Beat' represents teen pop's formal embrace of club production (128 BPM, acid house breakdown, heavy drum machine) co-authored by a then-ascendant EDM producer. The music video's GoPro-first, action-camera aesthetic…

The director

Jonathan Murray Chu (born November 2, 1979, Palo Alto, CA) is an American filmmaker and USC School of Cinematic Arts alumnus. He broke through with dance films Step Up 2: The Streets (2008) and Step Up 3D (2010), then directed the concert documentary Justin…