"What Do You Mean" Needs A Music Video STAT

After what has felt like an entire year of anticipation, on Friday, Aug. 28, Justin Bieber released "What Do You Mean" as both a single and a black and white lyric video, after a social media campaign that included more celebrity friends than even Taylor Swift has in her squad. (Well, it was a close race, anyway.) The song, which many have theorized to be about Selena Gomez — as she is Bieber's longest and most impactful relationship — is a slow and sultry kind of single with a lyric video that returns Biebs to the basics of what made fans fall so madly in love with him to begin with. Through the "What Do You Mean" lyrics, Bieber reminds us all that, in addition to being kind of a jerk who is periodically in trouble with the law and eggs people's houses, he also makes really good music. But when does the "What Do You Mean" music video come out?

I mean, don't get me wrong. The lyric video is pretty cool. It involves a lot of skateboard, and about 1 percent Bieber Being Shirtless. Whether you're a Belieber or not, many of us would be hard-pressed to deny that Bieber has worked for that abdominal region. Oh, and the skating is great, too. But where is the music video that Bieber has been filming starring Xenia Deli? How long do we have to wait for that? As far back as Aug. 19, Bieber was updating us on the music video's shooting, stating that day one of filming had wrapped. In addition, there were casting calls for extras flying around to fill out a party crowd.

Being that the lyric video stars only Bieber, Ryan Sheckler, and Chelsea Castro straight up until maybe the last minute, at which point a bunch of people who look like crew show up, I'm willing to bet this is not the music video he has been filming all month. However, he has given us no hints thus far as to when to expect the full music video for the song. We know that Bieber plans to perform "What Do You Mean" at the 2015 VMAs, but is that also when he'll debut the music video? Are we going to get another social media campaign of celebrities counting down to the debut of the music video?

To answer this question for ourselves, I decided to look back at his past singles and see how long it took a music video to follow the single's release. His very first single, way back in 2009, was exempt because the music video for "One Time" was released in June, a month ahead of the single's July release. "Beauty and the Beat" is also exempt, because the music video premiered 12 days before the song was released as a single. However, in the singles to follow, Bieber has released a music video anywhere from as soon as one day after the song's release ("Mistletoe") to as much as two months after the song's release (the most common amount of time fans have waited). On the other hand, filming for the music videos in the previous cases took place after the debut of the single, whereas we know filming for "What Do You Mean" has already begun. In light of that, our chances of seeing it very, very soon go way, way up.

Until that music video comes out, however, at least Beliebers have the lyric video to watch over and over as they memorize the lyrics to Bieber's new song. He's back, you guys, and he's back in style. Check out the video below.

Image: JustinBieberVEVO/YouTube