Boyz II Men's Nathan Morris and 'Mistletoe' director Roman White also join Beliebers for our video-premiere live stream.
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| Justin Bieber with MTV News' James Montgomery |
On Tuesday night (October 18),
Justin Bieber kicked off the Christmas season two months early when he sat down with MTV News during "
MTV First: Justin Bieber" to talk about his new holiday-themed album,
Under the Mistletoe, and premiere his video for the album's first single, "
Mistletoe."
The Roman White-directed video features Bieber and his leading lady, Ali Williams, getting romantic in Franklin, Tennessee, where the video was shot last month. "It was different because, like, it's a Christmas video, so you gotta get your Christmas spirit on," he said of having to pretend it was the holiday season months before the jingle bells actually start ringing. "We had Santa there. He was kind of interesting, because he had this finger that would light up, but I never knew that, so he would come up to me randomly and point at me and his finger lit up, and it was really strange. I was like, 'Santa doesn't do that, my friend.' "
So has Bieber ever kissed anyone under the mistletoe, like he does in the romantic video? "No," he revealed. "Except in the 'Mistletoe' video. Maybe I'll be able to someday."
During the show, White spoke to MTV News via Skype and recalled being on set with Bieber, whom he also worked with on the 2009 video for "One Less Lonely Girl." White explained that the video was influenced by John Hughes '80s flicks like "Pretty in Pink" and "Sixteen Candles." "It was great," White gushed. "He's a lot of fun. It's the second time I've worked with him, so we already kind of knew each other a little bit.
"He was a little older, a little taller and his hair was a little shorter," he laughed. "He's a lot of fun, and he taught me some dance moves. We had a blast. What can I say? I learned how to Dougie from one of the Dougie originators."
Considering the video was shot in September, White made sure the set was very Christmas-like. "I love Christmas. ... We had all these huge snow machines. We had Santa Claus there. All this snow everywhere. It was really crazy," he explained. "It felt like Christmas."
The general consensus of fans in the studio was that Bieber definitely created a Christmas classic with the island-tinged tune. "Well, I'm jealous," Kelsie said of Bieber's kiss in the video, adding that she was floored by Bieber's growth as an artist. "It was so great. It's so great to see how much personality he puts into it and compare him to how it is now [from where he was], it's amazing. It's inspiring."
Under the Mistletoe features duets with a variety of stars, like Mariah Carey, Usher, Busta Rhymes, the Band Perry and Boyz II Men, who appear on the song "Fa La La." "We take that very, very highly," Boyz II Men's Nathan Morris told us during "MTV First." "I think he's a great artist overall. The kid can sing. [Our song has] got a nice little grove to it. The track is actually pretty nice. It doesn't sound like a hokey Christmas song."
The album hits stores November 1, and Bieber was inspired by a certain food rather than a certain mood when it came to writing tracks for it. "It's different, because you've gotta think Christmastime. You've gotta think, 'What's at Christmas? Mistletoe, reindeer, Santa, all these things.' And especially when it's not Christmastime, it's hard to really get your mind around it," he said. "But once you get into it, like, I was really thinking it was Christmastime when I was writing this album. ... We had Christmas cookies [in the studio]."
Want to know what else Bieber and company, including Boyz II Men's Nathan Morris and director Roman White, had to say about all things Mistletoe? Stay with MTV News as we roll out more news and fun tidbits from our interview with Bieber.
