Three weeks after Bieber, 29, appeared as one of the singer’s love interests in the music video for “Snooze,” the duo released an acoustic version of the SOS hit.
“Ps. forgot to mention this lmao Snooze Acoustic ft @Justinbieber out now ????,” SZA, 33, announced on Instagram Thursday night, as she shared a clip of her and Bieber running toward each other that appeared at the end of the song’s music video.
After dropping the surprise acoustic version of the song, Bieber shared some behind the scenes footage from his recording session, which appeared to take place in a cozy home studio.
“Okey dokey artichoke-y,” he said as he got his microphone set up in the first video shared on his Instagram Story. Wearing a backwards baseball hat, no shirt and a pair of Calvin Klein boxers that stuck out above his jeans, Bieber was in high spirits as he messed around before getting down to business.
In the second clip, he sang “I can’t lose,” part of the song’s chorus, before expressing frustration at not hitting the note he wanted to hit. “F---,” he said before trying the chorus again. “That ‘I can’t’ was good, I guess.”
Elsewhere in the video, the “Ghost” singer played around on the piano as he reset himself before taking a stab at the chorus again.
In a fourth clip, he sang, “Home when you’re not here,” another lyric from the song’s chorus, and also recorded some impressive runs and background vocals for the duet.
On “Snooze (Acoustic),” Bieber comes in at the first chorus, harmonizing with SZA, and takes over for the second verse.
Bieber’s wife, Hailey, shared her love and support for the song on her Instagram Story Thursday night, too. She reposted SZA’s announcement of the acoustic version of the track, adding “????????????????,” and then gave her husband a solo shoutout.
“One thing Justin’s always gonna do… is give vocals,” the model, 26, wrote alongside a screenshot of her listening to the song on Apple Music.
The song came out on the same day that Bieber’s collaboration with Diddy, “Moments,” was released. The two tracks are his first release since February's "Private Landing," when he teamed up with Don Toliver and Future.
“Snooze (Acoustic)” and “Moments” are also the first tracks from Bieber since news broke that he and his longtime manager, Scooter Braun, are somewhat estranged.
“Justin's been working on his new record for the last six months. Scooter and SB Projects have not set up one session or done one thing for this [new] record," the source said. "The relationship with Scooter has run its course.”
Braun, who discovered Bieber on YouTube when he was 13 and is credited with launching his career, has not spoken on his relationship with the singer, but he did joke on X (formerly known as Twitter) in light of the news from Lovato, 31, and Grande, 30.
“Breaking news… I’m no longer managing myself,” he wrote in a post on Aug. 22, the same day news broke about his separation from Grande’s team.
