Justin Bieber compares a track from his new album, “Believe,” to the Michael Jackson classic “Billie Jean.” The song “Maria” is Bieber’s response to Mariah Yeater, the woman who falsely accused Bieber of fathering a son with her when he was just 16. Jackson’s 1982 hit follows a similar theme.
“That’s my ‘Billie Jean,’ ” Bieber tells Billboard magazine, out today, about the track. “It was something I wanted to get off my chest, and I could just say it in a song and get my point across without having to worry about the words I’m using in an interview.” The teen heartthrob, who turned 18 in March and is dating Selena Gomez, introduces a more mature sound on “Believe,” working with Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Drake and Ludacris, and producers Mike Posner, Diplo, Hit-Boy and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who also says of the “Maria” track, “To me it comes off as the 2012 version of ‘Billie Jean.’ ”