Coming off his well-received Comedy Central Roast, the singer sat down this week for an exclusive interview with USA Today.
In the feature story, Bieber continued to explain how he's on a path to redemption, how he's aiming to put his troubled past behind him.
"I'm growing, figuring some stuff out, as you do when you grow up," Bieber tells the newspaper. "You figure out what type of man you want to be, that's where I'm at."
Bieber is in the midst of a public, strategic revamping of his image, one allegedly brought on when his team threatened to end his career a few months ago.
"I'm still young. I'm still trying to figure out who I am, and I'm just trying to have fun," Justin says in this new interview.
Does being young and having fun include a busy romantic life? No, far from it, Bieber explains.
"At this point in my life I'm so focused on myself that I'm not looking for a girlfriend. I'm just trying to make sure I'm 100 percent so I can add to the person I want to be with.
"I want a girl I can trust, who I can lean on. This business is hard, and I want someone I can confide in."
Bieber added that he's had to abandon some people along the way to his new direction, those whose influence were bringing him down.
"I left a lot of people behind who weren't on the same journey I was on, and I've got a lot of new people in my life who are pouring into me, and not taking away from me," says the singer.
"everyday growing and learning. trying to be better. u get knocked down, u get up," Bieber Tweeted in January 21013 after he was photographed smoking pot.
Dressed Miley Cyrus on SNL, Bieber referenced himself and confirmed that he had, indeed, smoked marijuana, telling viewers:"I also heard he got busted for smoking weed and he's really sorry about it and people make mistakes and he's never gonna do it again.â€
In July 2013, Bieber actually reached out to Bill Clinton after a video surfaced of him peeing in a bucket while saying, "F--k Bill Clinton." The singer later publicized his contrition on Twitter, writing: "@billclinton thanks for taking the time to talk Mr. President. Your words meant a lot. #greatguy."
Bieber didn’t mean to disrespect Argentina when he kicked a flag off stage in November 2013. He said of the incident: "I would never do anything to disrespect Argentina......or the people of Argentina or the fans. Im [sic] so sorry for anyone who took my actions the wrong way and I hope you can forgive this mistake."
After he was arrested for DUI in January 2014, Bieber once again offered a mea culpa, Tweeting to fans: YOU ARE ALL WORTHY NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS. BE STRONG GOD IS WITH US ALL. MY BELIEBERS CHANGED MY LIFE. I WILL FOREVER BE GRATEFUL."
In April 2014, Justin posted a picture of himself at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. It’s a controversial landmark. Oops!
"While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine. I was mislead to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer," Bieber wrote on Instagram. "To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry. I love you China and I love you Japan."
After Seth Rogen slammed Bieber multiple times, the artist tried to make peace with the comedic actor in May 2014, Tweeting: "Seth Rogan [sic] sorry I didnt bow down when I asked 2 meet u was probably a bit shy and didn't want to be over the top but still. love ur movies."
Bieber expressed regret via the AP after an old video of him cracking a racist joke surfaced online: "I'm very sorry. I take all my friendships with people of all cultures very seriously and I apologize for offending or hurting anyone with my childish and inexcusable behavior. I thought it was ok to repeat hurtful words and jokes, but I didn't realize at the time that it wasn't funny and that in fact my actions were continuing the ignorance. Thanks to friends and family I learned from my mistakes and grew up and apologized for those wrongs. Now that these mistakes from the past have become public I need to apologize again to all of those who I have offended. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say but telling the truth is always what's right. Once again ... I'm sorry."
Justin even received flak for his akward haircut and color, telling fans in late 2014: "For all u fools saying cut my hair it’s in an awkward stage I’m sorry lol. But I’m growing it out and there’s gonna a be a period of time where it looks dumb lol a hat only does so much. #insecure lol."
Justin again found himself having to apologize when another video from 2009 — in which a young Bieber sang about joining the Ku Klux Klan — went viral: "Facing my mistakes from years ago has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with. But I feel now that I need to take responsibility for those mistakes and not let them linger. I just hope that the next 14-year-old kid who doesn’t understand the power of these words does not make the same mistakes I made years ago. At the end of the day I just need to step up and own what I did."
This is a long one: In January 2015, Bieber offered his biggest apology yet via a heartfelt video he posted on Facebook: "I wanted to make a video because I wanted to express how I feel right now. Today I was on Ellen and it was a lot of fun. She's amazing. But I was really nervous, and I think I was nervous because I was afraid of what people are thinking about me right now. It's been a minute since I've been in a public appearance and I didn't want to come off arrogant or conceited – basically how I've been acting the past year or a year and a half," he said. "I'm not who I was pretending to be. And why I say pretending is often we pretend to be something we’re not as a cover-up of what we're truly feeling inside. There were a lot of feelings going on in there — just being young and growing up in this business is hard. Growing up in general is hard."
Bieber followed up with an explanation of the video: "I did a lot of things over the past few years that I'm not proud of," he said. "I just wanted to make the video to just let people know that I'm human, I love people, I love love, I love ... I'm passionate about things and I'm passionate about being better and growing, so I think that this is going to be an awesome chapter in my life and I'm so glad that I have you guys supporting me."
On stage for his Comedy Central Roast, Bieber said: "I turned a lot of people off over the past few years, but I know I can still turn out good music and turn everything all around. "I've lost some of my best qualities. For that, I am sorry… I'm looking forward to being someone who you guys can all look at and be proud of."
And in perhaps Bieber's most open and honest quote to date, he also admitted that he grew far apart from his mother during his tumultuous run of terrible decision-making.
"We lost our relationship for awhile. She couldn't really tell me anything; she would try, but I wasn't listening to anybody and that sort of sucked. But our relationship is getting better now; we're getting it back."
