Justin Bieber is back.

The singer just unleashed his undeniably catchy new single, "What Do You Mean?", which was well worth the wait -- and well worth the hype.

Justin will be performing it live for the very first time this Sunday at the 2015 Video Music Awards and the timing couldn't be better.

"It's the perfect timing because the song just came out," Justin told us backstage after his rehearsal, where we managed to get some pics of him onstage. "MTV has always supported me, so for me to come out and support them -- it's always been so mutual, I love the VMAs."

Justin made his VMA debut at the awards show back in 2009. "Wow that's crazy, that's like a whole other human being," he said when we showed him a picture of him on the red carpet -- and a lot has not only changed since then, but within the past couple years. The singer has gone through a lot of troubled moments, but learned something pretty valuable along the way.

"I think just perception and how I view people and things," he said of how he's changed. "You grow and you find out that things aren't exactly what they seem. ... There's so many people that want to bring me down and stuff and so many people that are mean, but there's also so many awesome people that I'm not giving the chance to because I was so focused on a lot of the negativity."

And those lessons, plus so much more, will be reflected on his upcoming album, due out November 13.

"I think I'm just telling my story through this album and I'm kind of saying what I haven't said over the past three years -- because I really haven't used my voice," he said. "I want to use it in my music."