| Honest | |
| Cover: | Justin Bieber - Honest.png |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Justin Bieber featuring Don Toliver |
| Released: | April 29, 2022 |
| Genre: |
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| Length: | 3:13 |
| Label: | Def Jam |
| Producer: |
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| Chronology: | Justin Bieber |
| Prev Title: | Up at Night |
| Prev Year: | 2022 |
| Next Title: | Private Landing |
| Next Year: | 2023 |
"Honest" is a song by Canadian singer Justin Bieber, featuring vocals from American rapper and singer Don Toliver. It was released as a single through Def Jam Recordings on April 29, 2022. Bieber and Toliver wrote the song with producers Beam, Sonni, and Azul Wynter, alongside Donny Flores, Simon Plummer, and Alecia Gibson. It marks the second collaboration between the two artists, following their 2021 joint collaborative single with American record producer Skrillex titled "Don't Go".
"Honest" serves as Bieber's first official single since "Ghost" from his sixth studio album, Justice (2021), although he had released a few collaborations with other artists that were all singles after that.[1] In an interview with SiriusXM, Bieber said that he was trying to make something more lighter and upbeat as "Ghost" sees him singing about the death of a loved one and other sensitive topics, adding that he could connect with the drum patterns of the song as he plays the drums.[2] On May 3, 2022, Bieber was interviewed by Ebro Darden from Apple Music. Bieber discussed Jamaican-American rapper and singer Beam's involvement in the production and songwriting of "Honest", in which he said that Beam "helped write this song and yeah, once again, his little pockets are crazy and I love experimenting with new pockets, new rhythms", specifically because "I'm a drummer, so for me being able to experiment with those little pockets is it's fun". About Toliver, Bieber admitted that "I just love his melodies these are honestly insane. He has a really amazing cadence to his songs and his music. And I'm just a genuine fan. He's very unique."[3]
The official music video for "Honest", directed by Cole Bennett of Lyrical Lemonade, premiered on Lyrical Lemonade's YouTube channel alongside the song on April 29, 2022.[4] It has a winter vibe to it and sees Bieber and Toliver riding on jet skis.[5]
As the video for "Honest" begins, Bieber sports an orange ski mask, which only shows his eyes and mouth uncovered. He then appears in a ski lodge, now dressed up in all-white winter clothing, watching the snow fall out through the window. Toliver later joins Bieber and the two artists ride through the woods in snowmobiles.[6] Bieber and Toliver sit around a fireplace with loved ones, but as enemies show up, the duo grab guns and start shooting at them.[7]
Bieber and Bennett shot the music video for the former's single, "I Feel Funny", which was released two days before the song and video for "Honest". They worked on the visuals for "I Feel Funny" when Bieber was goofing off in between different sets while shooting the visuals for "Honest", with the intention to make a silly comedy song and video to promote "Honest".[8] Bennett added that "Justin randomly texted me this song one day and said 'should we do a visual to this? song straight to number 1.' We joked around about doing a video for it but never did. A few weeks later we were doing a pick up day for a video we had recently shot, but never finished (Honest). We had a bit of time switching over from scene to scene. So, I went into his trailer and said 'Remember that song you sent me? Let's shoot a video for it on my phone in between takes of the actual video.'"[9]
| Peak position | ||
| Greece International (IFPI)[10] | 42 | |
|---|---|---|
| Japan Hot Overseas (Billboard)[11] | 19 | |
| Lithuania (AGATA)[12] | 58 | |
| Netherlands (Single Tip)[13] | 2 | |
| New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[14] | 4 | |
| Sweden Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan)[15] | 15 | |
| Vietnam (Vietnam Hot 100)[16] | 44 |
| Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various | April 29, 2022 | Def Jam | |||
| Italy | Radio airplay | UMG | [17] | ||
| United States | May 17, 2022 | Urban radio | [18] |