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The Justin Bieber that we know today is a lot different from the Biebs of old and a lot of that could be due to his recent hiatus. Seemingly at the height of his career, Justin walked away from everything. From 2015 to 2020, Beliebers went without a new album from their favorite singer. During this time, the big question on everyone’s minds was, why? What would make someone take a break when their career was skyrocketing?

Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber | Andrew Lipovsky/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Why did Justin Bieber take a break from music?

Though Justin hadn’t put out an album since Purpose in 2015, he was still performing for a while. But in 2017, he had to cancel his tour.

“I was really tired emotionally, physically, and I was sick and I didn’t realize I was sick,” he told Zane Lowe. “I had Epstein-Barr, which is like, it’s called Mono. And then I have Lyme disease. So it was that, it was just the exhaustion of just being on tour, and then it was just everything compounded I think, to be honest.”

The sickness pushed Justin to his limit.

“I was supposed to do a bunch of stadiums,” he continued. “I mean I pushed through the last month or two, and I couldn’t believe I pushed through that. So when they were like, ‘We got to still do stadiums,’ I was like, ‘This is not going to be good. I’m not going to be able to make it through that.’ And it’s just, no, it won’t work. And I’m someone who pushes, pushes, pushes until it’s the last straw, so I just couldn’t do it.”

Since getting his diagnosis, Justin’s life has only changed for the better. He is on the right medication and he now has his wife, Hailey Bieber, around to make sure he makes his health a priority.

“I think just making sure that I am just doing the right treatments for it, doing the right IV’s and all that sort of stuff. Taking the necessary precautions, necessary to not get any worse, I guess,” he said. “Listen to Hailey when she says she feels that I’m run down, and it’s good to have her as checks and balances. She can let me know when I’m like, ‘All right, you’re looking depleted right now.'”

What was it like making music again?

After taking a break from recording, Justin wondered if he even had it in him to come back. But the only way to know for sure was to jump right in.

“I was dealing with a lot of fear, a lot of just… was afraid of, at that point, just even the process,” he said. “What am I going to talk about again? Is it going to be received? I’m starting to compare with other artists.” 

“I was running away. I think a lot of us need to take that when something’s hard. It’s almost like we need to run towards the pain and run towards the hurt rather than run away from it,” he continued. “I think you get kind of healing when it comes to that.”

His new album, Changes, was just released on Valentine’s Day.

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