“Anything that comes out of his mouth: that’s pop music. You can really do pretty wild stuff behind that”: Mk.gee, Fred Again, Sekou… is Justin Bieber assembling 2025’s hottest cast of musical collaborators?

Mk.gee, Justin Bieber and Fred Again
(Image credit: Disney/Christopher Willard; XNY/Star Max/GC Images; Debbie Hickey/Getty Images)

Although Justin Bieber is yet to announce a new album, his first since 2021’s Justice, sightings at various recording studios over the past 12 months have convinced many fans that he’s working on one. And it seems that he could be collaborating with some of pop’s most in-demand artists.

Most recently, he appeared in a now-expired Instagram story by rising British singer/songwriter Sekou. This featured shots of Bieber sitting at a piano, and who else should be there but heartfelt electronica maven Fred Again. Fred, of course, has worked with Bieber before, having co-written and co-produced I Don’t Care, his 2019 duet with Ed Sheeran.

This apparent reveal comes after, in an interview with the New York Times last year, outré guitarist and producer Mk.gee confirmed that he’d been working with Bieber on new material.

“He’s searching,” he said. “Anything that comes out of his mouth: that’s pop music. You can really do pretty wild stuff behind that, just because it represents something.”

Whether any or all of these collaborations ends up on a Bieber album remains to be seen, but there are certainly some intriguing signposts for the direction(s) the record might take.

Coincidentally, when the star released Justice, in 2021, he was sent a cease and desist letter by the French electronic duo of the same name, requesting that he stop using the “cross” logo that they believe they trademarked some time ago.

Ben Rogerson
Deputy Editor

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it. 

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