Justin Bieber: I Owe My Success to Social Media

Justin Bieber takes the cover of Billboard‘s latest issue, on newsstands now.

Here’s what the 18-year-old singer had to share:

On who inspires him: “Michael Jackson is my inspiration. For me, he’s the greatest�”he’s the King of Pop – and everything I do, I do to be the greatest.”

On dealing with fame: “Your life is out there a lot more, especially nowadays when everybody has a HD camera phone on them at all times. But my whole career launched from the Internet, so without it, I feel like I wouldn’t even be here. I owe a lot of my success to social media, to Twitter, to YouTube and Facebook. It is also a great way to interact with fans.”

On his recording routine: “The studio’s filled with people I like and trust. Sometimes the lights in the booth have to be dimmed and I have a few candles, but other than that, that’s it.”

Producer Mike Posner on Justin’s “Boyfriend” rap: “Justin’s a crazy rapper. He’ll do four vocal takes at the beginning of the session of ideas, and the fourth one, always, is all rap. He loves to rap, and he’s really good at it. There was no hesitation. It was just kind of what the song called for. We weren’t scared to take a risk.”

Bigger pic inside…