Behind the Boards with Poo Bear: Producer and Songwriter Talks Justin Bieber, Usher, DJ Khaled, and More

The post Behind the Boards with Poo Bear: Producer and Songwriter Talks Justin Bieber, Usher, DJ Khaled, and More appeared first on Consequence.

Behind the Boards is a series where we spotlight some of the biggest producers in the industry and dig into some of their favorite projects. Here, we sit down with Poo Bear to talk about his work with Justin Bieber, Usher, DJ Khaled, and more.

Songwriter and producer Jason Paul Douglas Boyd, aka Poo Bear, is best known for being one of Justin Bieber‘s go-to collaborators, but he’s been making hits for more than two decades since breaking through with 112’s “Peaches & Cream.” This has included Usher‘s “Caught Up,” DJ Khaled‘s “I’m the One,” and Lupe Fiasco’s “Bitch Bad” — not to mention an out of left field collaboration with Zac Brown on his solo album The Controversy.

While speaking Consequence over Zoom, Poo Bear explained his success comes from a constant work ethic, which he likened to an NBA basketball player who stays in the gym. “I try to write like 600 songs a year at a minimum,” he says. “Everything I write usually gets placed no matter what, whether I’m with an artist or not. For me, it’s more than just practice because it actually turns into like a revenue stream.”

Working together with frequent collaborators like the Audibles, Sasha Sirota, and shndō, Poo Bear puts together skeletons of his records and oversees the production to create “a complete thought and idea” that makes sense not just lyrically and conceptually, but sonically. “There are many different roles that fall under the term of producer, but the most important one is the person who delivers the finished record,” he says. “Ultimately, the person who turns the record in, as well as the people who physically played music and instruments also are producers.”

On Friday, November 18th, Poo Bear will once again strike out on his own with The Book of Nabeel, the follow-up to his 2018 debut, Poo Bear Presents Bearthday Music. For the album, the Miami-based musician worked extensively with poet Nabeel Zahid, making songs out of his collaborator’s prose by adding structure and melodies. Described by Poo Bear as some of his best work lyrically, melodically, and sonically, it features the single “Distant Shore,” which was a hit on the dance charts.

Read below for a deep dive into a small sampling of Poo Bear’s work, including Justin Bieber’s Purpose, Usher’s Confessions, and DJ Khaled’s “I’m the One” and “No Brainer.”

Justin Bieber – Purpose

With Journals, I knew I was doing R&B — it was a very clear goal. With Purpose, the name, even the concept of Purpose — that came from Scooter Braun — that came at the end of the album, so it was not like I was making even making music and thinking like, “Okay, this album is gonna be called Purpose, I gotta make these records that support this main idea.” It was more so just making records, making songs that I genuinely loved from the bottom of my heart, which is my formula. I’m really tough on myself, I’m my worst critic.

So with Purpose, I started off with chords, and from “Mark My Words” from the very first intro, that was me and Skrillex. That was the first time I worked with Sonny, and it was just making music that I loved, that moved my emotions with me singing how I will sing. Not thinking about how would Justin Bieber sing this, I approached it from how would Poo Bear, how would I sing this, and that just allowed me to not have any not being trapped or confined to any box because when I’m making music for Poo Bear, for me, I have no limits, I’m trying to push my voice and trying to do things that vocally have never been done before.

I kind of took that approach based on Journals. In the beginning, he was picking songs that I had from my personal album, and I was giving them to him and just changing them around a little bit because he was 17 and my music was still very mature — just manipulating some words. And then during it, I would try to write something I would think would just be for Justin Bieber, and he would always go back to what I would do for myself, which makes sense because if you’re an artist, and you’re singing a certain way, and you want to grow, you don’t want to sing the same way you’ve been singing previously so it made a lot of sense.

I wasn’t sticking to anything other than my guns and doing what I would do and what I love, and then letting him take it and embellish on it, and give his honest opinion on it. I can’t believe I did 16 out of the 19 songs, I just would have never ever expected to have that many records on Purpose. And that’s how you know the direction of Purpose was making great records. Hence why with the music there isn’t really a constant sound: there’s some R&B, there’s some pop, there’s some EDM, there’s some records that I can’t even put into a genre.

With “No Pressure,” “Purpose,” and “Company,” those records came from my team with the Audibles, and I was hands-on in the room while they were being made musically, so I had input in the sonics and the music part of it. That’s the only thing that separated me from getting producer credit on the other records where they were produced by Sonny or whoever else worked on them. The records that I deliver, they’re done. It’s like, we love this, let’s mix and master.

I vocal produced some of the records, but for a lot of it — Justin is like me, he’s really hard on himself, so he works really great with [producer and engineer] Josh Gudwin. There might be times where I feel like he nailed the take, and then he might feel like he wants to do it 12 more times. So, we learned this cool working relationship when it comes down to recording. Every now and then, they’ll be certain songs where I absolutely have to be there because there are so many different vocal gymnastics in the record — just making sure when he’s cutting them, that every note, every syllable is flawless.

Usher – Confessions

I got involved by working with two super producers by the name of Dre & Vidal, Andre Harris and Vidal Davis out of Philadelphia. I met them in Miami in the year 2001 right after [112’s] “Peaches and Cream” was out. They flew me to Philadelphia and it was kind of like they kidnapped me for a little while, which was amazing. I worked with Jill Scott and Glenn Lewis, that whole neo soul era was amazing. L.A. Reid reached out and heard a record that was done and it was like, “Yo, I want you guys to get in the studio with Usher first before anybody else for this project.” It didn’t even have a name yet, he didn’t even have an actual concept for the album.

So we went in with Usher in 2002. If you look back that album didn’t come out to like 2004. We went in with him first and cut five records, and out of the five, three stuck. If you listen to them, “Caught Up” was about Chilli from TLC. That was when he was in a relationship with Chilli. “Superstar” and “Follow Me,” those are about Chilli, so when they broke up, I was like, “Oh no, these songs aren’t gonna make it because they’re literally about Chilli.” I learned from that, that as long as you do timeless music that’s undeniably great, it doesn’t matter because a great song’s a great song. As long as it translates and it connects with the people, they’re gonna apply it to their relationships anyway. It’s almost like the music speaks for them whether Usher was still in a relationship or not, it didn’t matter.

We did “Caught Up” from scratch. At that time, he’s coming off of 8701. Me and Ryan and Dre and Vidal, we looked at him like, “Yo, you’re the next Michael Jackson.” So “Caught Up” came from us thinking about what type of uptempo would Michael Jackson do right now in 2002 that will resonate with the world, and that’s where that whole feeling, that major minor, going from minor to major on the chords — that came from us thinking like, “Yo, this has to be a larger-than-life record that starts off his show. Let’s think of a record that every performance for the rest of his life, he has to start off with ‘Caught Up.'” And lo and behold, if you go to see his show in Vegas right now, “Caught Up” is right in the beginning of the show, so we were able to pull that off.

Usher wasn’t feeling “Caught Up” at first. Mark Pitts, who was the head A&R at Arista Records at that time, he saw the vision. He loved the record, and he booked another session for us because he wanted to win Usher over with that record because he really felt strongly about it. We booked a studio at Doppler Recording Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and we went in and invited some girls. It was just an organic mood when we were recording — everybody was dancing and having a great time. So, Usher got to see — he was like, “Yo, what am I missing?”

It was like that FOMO effect and then understanding that most hit records that are being created, the artists, they don’t hear them. They usually hear other songs that they love, but usually, those songs that they love would never be like radio singles or stuff that the people love. It’s been like this forever for artists. So it took a little dancing and show to get Usher to really commit to “Caught Up.”

DJ Khaled – “I’m the One” and “No Brainer”

It’s strange because now that I live in Miami, I haven’t worked with him. Before, when I was residing in LA, he’d send over some chords or he’d send over like a barebones skeleton and I would just go into the studio and just come up with whatever I’m feeling. I record everything first with my voice and just send it back, and then he’ll hit me and go crazy, like blowing horns. Khaled is super, super animated.

“No Brainer,” I definitely for sure wrote that in like 25 minutes — same with “I’m the One.” Just a feel-good record that ultimately I liked a lot, but just to be frank, I just wasn’t as crazy about it as Khaled was. But it was for his project, so I’m like, you love it, that’s amazing. It’s not my favorite, but you know, we still sold a few million singles on it. And it still streamed a gang of streams. So it was a successful record as well.

When Khaled would send stuff to Justin with other people’s writing, it will kind of end up with Justin saying, “Hey, I think you should just send this to Poo Bear.” So instead of going through that again, he just decided like, let me just call Poo Bear now instead of doing the whole dance with Justin, and it worked out with when “I’m The One.” “I’m The One” definitely was a whole ‘nother song before I came in, you know, just started from scratch. And then “No Brainer” was just me going in the studio just trying to trying to fill out the music in the groove. It was such a different groove for me, like a different pocket. That was the process of that and I appreciate Khaled for reaching out. I appreciate Justin redirecting that stuff to me, like I’ll never take that for granted. And I’m always gonna be overly appreciative of that relationship I have with Justin.

Khaled to me is an amazing producer, A&R that’s able to put together great collaboration records, and he’s a DJ. So once again, he has the upper hand of just sonically knowing, basing different sounds off of what they will just spin on the radio or spin in the club. Producers, while we’re working, we can play it in the studio and play another record after it to be like, alright, this is hitting equally as hard, meaning hitting like 808s and frequencies. But coming from a DJ standpoint, it’s like, he can hear it already. Like I’m gonna play this after this before this, I’m gonna bring it back again 45 minutes later after this, after that. It just gives them the upper hand to be able to hear hits on a different level, which is really cool.

Lupe Fiasco – “Bitch Bad”

“Bitch Bad” was his concept. I got it immediately and I thought it was amazing, just because it was really a trap. It was like this pill that you give to somebody, and you’re like, “Yo, this is ecstasy, but when they take it, it’s like vitamin C on steroids.” It tricks you so when people were hearing “Bitch Bad,” the word bitch was being thrown around so much and it still is thrown around so much that it was like, “Oh, this record talking about bad bitches, right?” But no, it was like the flip on the wordplay, which to me was completely brilliant.

Lupe is a mad scientist, genius, songwriter, great performer, and a great lyricist. One of the greatest rappers and lyricists for me of all time. I’m still learning new double and triple entendres — if I listen to his music now, I’ll be like, “Oh shit, that’s what he meant.” That concept came from him, and I was just able to embellish on it, put the melody and sing on it and really just add to it.

We were in LA, actually, in the valley. We worked on maybe four songs that ended up being on Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 that day. At that time, Lupe just had a batch of beats, and we were just going through music. That one came on, and I was like, “Yo, this is really amazing.” That was an Audibles record if I’m not mistaken, and it was just inspiring. If you listen to that beat, it doesn’t sound like anything you’ve ever heard before, which to me is always inspiring when I could write over something that I’ve never heard sonically. It’s like, “Oh, this is a way to sneak a new sound in the form of a pill.”

Lupe knocks out records like how I knock out records. He turns it on, he’s freestyling, he’s coming up with four bars at a time on the spot. I’m coming up with my lines and my melodies on the spot in real-time. I don’t write anything down, he doesn’t write anything down. We’re just on a microphone, letting our emotions flow, letting melodies flow and cadences flow. It was really a magical day because anytime I go in the studio and I’m making four to five records, and all of them come out and they all turn into copyrights that generate revenue. I consider that as being like a really special day and a magical day, I felt like they were great songs that were complete thoughts, complete ideas, and I think those records will live on forever.

Zac Brown – The Controversy

Zac wanted to work with Justin, and Scooter Braun was like, “Well, if you want to work with Justin, you should get in you should meet and get in and hang out with Poo Bear.” And he started listing off the songs that I had done for Justin and Zac was like, “Yo those are my favorite records — not just my favorite Bieber records, but those like my favorite songs of all time.” I was in Atlanta, they were in Atlanta, they hit me and Zac invited me to come get on a jet with him and Scooter and we went to Boston to see them perform at Fenway Stadium, which they had sold out. It was their eighth time, they sold it more than anybody else in the history of Boston.

I knew he was a legend, and I had to go because I really wanted to break into country. I want success in every genre because I want to go down as one of the greatest — if not the greatest — songwriters of all time. So you know, it was a goal of mine then to get a country hit record or just work with a country artist, whether it was a hit or not. I just wanted to have the opportunity to work with a country artist, and Zac is like an amazing producer, amazing guitars, amazing vocalist, and an all-around, all-American great human being.

After going to Boston with him, we were able to really lock in and then we actually did our first writing session on a jet going from Atlanta to Stockholm, Sweden. We wrote a couple of songs on the jet and we stayed and we worked in Stockholm, and we went to Austria, we worked on a jet. And from there, we just built a really close bond. He even sold me 16 acres for my mom, right on his property that’s right next to his property. We share the same workers that do the yards.

That album, it was literally controversial, and I think that’s why he named it that. As much as I wanted to get into country, he was trying to step away from it at that time, and I’m like, alright, great. It just sounded different from his other music, and I don’t think his fans took a liking to it at all because it wasn’t your normal Zac Brown country music. It was very new and he went through a lot of ridicule with that album, but we have great records on there.

One that I did with him and Sasha Sirota, called “Dream Sellin’,” is one of my favorite Zac Brown records that I’ve ever done in my entire life. We shot a video, he brought us on tour and had me and Sasha opening up for him. Then COVID hit and shut everything down, but we did five shows in five different arenas which was an amazing experience.

It was a different process just because I usually work with Sasha or the Audibles — at the time I hadn’t signed shndō. Because Zac is a great guitarist, he was able to play chord ideas, and I was just doing melodies on top of the chorus, which was new. I had never worked with an artist that was hands-on as he was in the sonics and the music and writing lyrics. He was there and creating chords and going back and forth, and he was just really hands-on with building those records with us. For the majority of the songs that we did, we did them together. And that was different because usually I’ll work on it with my producers and I’ll send it to an artist, or we’ll get in with an artist and play records that I’ve done already that might need verses or a bridge.

It’s just a whole ‘nother approach to creating music, which I kind of expected with what I thought was supposed to be country, which turned out to be some type of a new sound. I expected that because I know that in country music, they’re really hands-on in the creative process. I actually look forward to that, and just working with an artist that actually has a lot of input, sonically, musically, and lyrically. It always helps, man, the more hybrid ideas and the more hybrid production comes together.

I just feel like the bigger the sound is, whether it works or not, you still get the best, but when you have a hybrid of ideas and music, and people putting their brains together, it’s no different than anything in business coming together and brainstorming. I come up with an idea, you take that idea and embellish on it. And then somebody else might take both ideas and embellish on it. It’s like this hybrid of three different ideas that end up ultimately turning into something that neither one of us would have done on our own. So I just feel like it was a great experience.

Behind the Boards with Poo Bear: Producer and Songwriter Talks Justin Bieber, Usher, DJ Khaled, and More
Eddie Fu

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