Justin Bieber's "What Do You Mean" is an impressive track: a somber piano ballad that transforms into a fluttery ode to confusion. It shot to No. 1 on the Hot 100 when it came out, no small accomplishment for a tune that incorporates both a ticking clock and a pan flute.
Dark0 shared a remix of the song today, and the producer pushes the hit in a different direction. The original is about Bieber's frustrations with indecision, but Dark0 pitches up the vocal, which makes the song sound like a gleeful taunt, as if uncertainty offers the only path to true freedom. The new beat is both brighter—the synths radiate sunshine—and sludgier, with the sort of bass and drum programming you find in mixtures of rap and electronic music.
"I'm always making edits like this," Dark0 tells FADER in an email. "People have been getting at me for this one in particular after hearing it in mixes and performances so... Here it is :)."
Download here.
