My Worlds: The Collection

Background

The first disc includes songs from My Worlds Acoustic, which features acoustic version of songs from Bieber's debut extended play, My World, and his first studio album, My World 2.0. Bieber spoke with MTV News and he wanted to record the acoustic songs for the "haters" who say he cannot sing and saying his voice was auto-tuned, and that "stripping it down and having it kind of really mellow and being able to hear my voice" was his purpose. The singer said he wanted to do the acoustic set because the production sometimes "drowns out your voice" and "takes away from the singer, over the synths and everything." In addition to the acoustic tracks, the first disc also contains the Usher-featuring and J-Stax remixes to "Somebody to Love", the single version of "Never Say Never", featuring Jaden Smith, as well as a new song, an inspirational ballad entitled, "Pray". The second disc features songs that were present on My Worlds, a package of My World and My World 2.0, which was released instead of or in conjunction with My World 2.0 in select countries.

According to Bieber, "Pray" is a gift to his fans. The song's arrangement is set to reflect Bieber's music before he was discovered, but also includes instrumentation from a string quartet, congas, and a cajon drum, the latter to represent Bieber's worldy travels, specifically to Africa. While Bieber was being interviewed by Ryan Seacrest on his radio show, Bieber talked about the song's initial writing stating the song was influenced by Michael Jackson, and he thought of Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" when writing the song. Vocally, Bieber's vocals are sung in a lower key compared to previous singles. Bieber plays guitar on the acoustic versions, along with his guitarist and musical director Dan Kanter. The acoustic versions of the songs were produced by Kanter, Bieber's vocal producer Kuk Harrell, and also producer Rob Wells.

The album was released on November 19, 2010. "Pray" was released as the album's first and only single on in select countries on December 3, 2010. It charted moderately, reaching number sixty-three in Austria, fifty-one in Germany, and appeared on the Tip charts in Belgium.

Critical reception

The compilation received mixed reviews from critics. Andy Kellman of Allmusic gave the album four out of five stars. Although Lucy Jones of The Daily Telegraph said the album seemed as something else to be "cashed in on", she called the collaborations "perfectly polished", and gave the album four out of five stars. Hermonie Hoby of The Guardian said that "regifting" following his past two releases seemed unnecessary, but noted that "the billion or so Beliebers" wouldn't feel "churlish."

Commercial performance

Due to its limited release in European countries, the album was only eligible to chart in those territories. In Denmark, on the Danish Albums Chart, My Worlds: The Collection debuted at number twenty-six. Six weeks later, on the week labeled January 4, 2011, the album peaked at number thirteen on the chart, and it spent a total of fifteen weeks on chart. My Worlds: The Collection debuted at number forty-five on the Swedish Albums Chart, and six weeks later peaked at number thirty. On the Dutch Albums Chart, the album debuted at number forty-one, and peaked at number twenty-six the next week. It spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart.

On the Finnish Albums Chart the album debuted at number forty-nine, and fell off the chart the next week. However, the week of January 1, 2011, the album re-entered the chart at number forty-seven, and peaked at number thirty-six the next week. The album debuted and peaked at forty-three on the Greek Albums Chart, spending a week on the chart.

Personnel

Adapted from My Worlds: The Collection liner notes.