As you know, will.i.am and Justin Bieber have a single out soon. It's called '#thatPOWER', it's mar­gin­ally better than you expect it to be, and it finds both artists making numerous claims that range from the accept­able to the eyebrow-raising.

How do those claims stack up? Let's find out.

"I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive"

Claim made by: Justin Bieber

Is this line factual? Despite numerous false alarms over the last few years and despite an attempted assas­sin­a­tion Justin Bieber is not dead. He is therefore alive. ✔

"I can fly, I can fly, I can fly"

Claim made by: Justin Bieber

Is this line factual? This is a difficult one, because tens of thousands of Justin's fans have indeed seen him 'fly' before their very eyes.

On the other hand, if you look very closely at this footage — you may need to pause the clip — you will notice that Bieber is in fact being supported by a complex wire and harness arrange­ment. So when it comes to Justin Bieber's ability to fly the 'proof' many would offer seems to suggest he cannot fly. Because if he could fly, surely he would not use a harness? Well, yes and no. It's possible that Bieber can indeed fly and that the harness is used in that live scenario to prevent wide­spread fan pan­de­monium. It's also possible that Justin can fly, but not very high — perhaps he can only hover a few cen­ti­metres above the ground. This would not really work as a showstop­ping live setpiece. Fan pan­de­monium aside what we also need to accept here is that if Justin could actually fly he would not let people know, because The Authorities would probably try to cut him up for sci­entific testing. In summary, while we have no proof that Justin Bieber cannot fly, nor has he provided any proof that he can — and in this situation the onus really is on Bieber to provide evidence that will back up his claims. And for this reason we are reluct­antly forced to conclude that Bieber cannot fly and that the claims he makes in this song are not factual. ✖

"I’m loving every second, minute,  hour"

Claim made by: Justin Bieber

Is this line factual?

No. ✖

"I got that power I got that power I got that power power power power"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? Critically, will.i.am fails to state which power he is dis­cuss­ing in this line. If he is referring to the power to be alive, able to fly and love all seconds minutes and hours we'd probably have to say this line is factually inac­cur­ate. ✖

"They call me Will‑A"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? They call him nothing of the sort. This is not a fact. ✖

"I’m chilly"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? If you study pho­to­graphs of will.i.am on Google Images you'll see that in almost every one he is wearing some sort of jacket or coat. Naturally some of these images depict the musician in colder climates but in most pictures he's in a warm location — such as under studio lights. To the right you'll see just one image of will.i.am in a jacket. We think this is proof that will.i.am is a naturally chilly person, which may be due to bad cir­cu­la­tion. But of course as he is usually wearing a jacket or coat, he rarely is chilly in real life. The big question here is whether will.i.am was wearing a jacket when he was recording his vocals for this song. We think he probably was wearing a jacket, and was therefore not chilly. This lane is not factual. ✖

"I done made that milli, on my way to that billi"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? He is talking about millions and billions here. Million rhymes with billion just as well as milli rhymes with billi, and there would be room for each extra syllable in the song — will.i.am has probably shortened the words in an attempt to sound cool. Either way, he has certainly made at least one 'milli' and, providing he is able to maintain his workrate and level of success over the coming years, we think he probably is on his way to 'that' billi. ✔

"Used to have a piggy bank, but now I have that bigger bank"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? We think the piggy bank thing is probably part of a will.i.am myth­build­ing exercise so we're going to have to say this one is bollocks. ✖

"They hate on me cause we doing what they can’t"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? Again this comes down to a dis­cus­sion of who 'they' may be but while it's certainly true that many onlookers — par­tic­u­larly will.i.am's former peers — may indeed hate on him due to jealousy, the performer and producer has provided a lot more ammuni­tion than that over the years. "They hate on my cause we doing what they can't, I've got an annoying haircut, the jackets I wear on BBC talent contest The Voice are pretty bad, I did awful things to Britney on my last single and my releases can be hit and miss to say the very least" might have been a more factual view of things. As it stands, we don't think it's neces­sar­ily true to state that will.i.am is only hated on because of his success. Non-factual lyric. ✖

"I stay on that hussle, I flex that little muscle"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? He's talking about one specific little muscle. (His cock.) FACTUAL. ✔

"Hate to burst your bubble"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? This line relates to those hating on will.i.am for doing what they can't. We'd say that although will.i.am seems like a decent sort of chap he is quite within his rights to take some pleasure in bursting the bubble of those who, through jealousy alone, throw neg­at­iv­ity his way. So we think he does not, in fact, hate to burst that par­tic­u­lar bubble, and that this line is NON-FACTUAL. ✖

"I’m on that other level"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? will.i.am is on a different level, in career terms, to most other artists. Factual line. ✔

"Imma take it higher and high and high and higher"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? HIYAAA!  ✔

"I stay and buy attire"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? We don't know what the 'stay' bit is about but it is certainly true that will.i.am buys attire. In his lifetime he has purchased attire including but not limited to shirts, socks,  hats, trousers (pictured), hats, gloves, shorts, hats, vests, suits, hats, hats, hats and hats. A factual line.  ✔

"Keeping burning like that fire"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? Without any inform­a­tion regarding the fire to which will.i.am refers it is impossible to actually gauge the veracity of this claim but unless the fire in question is not on fire we'd say the line is rubbish, because will.i.am is not on fire. ✖

"We’re good under pressure y'all"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? Most creatives who excel in their chosen fields do in fact work incred­ibly well under pressure, and we'd say will.i.am will probably come up with a lot of his best work when the clock is ticking. We'd also suspect that when he gets to the 'eight hours before a song's due in' mark will.i.am will also, often, produce his worst work, but the line under scrutiny here does not claim that will.i.am is not bad under pressure, merely that he is — perhaps only some of the time — good. A factual line.  ✔

"Been through all that stress y’all"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? Things haven't always been easy for will.i.am. While we expect he has, in recent years, found ways to cope with the stress that is flung at anybody with an inter­na­tional pop career, we think it is also true that in years gone by he will have had to cope with stress. A factual line.  ✔

"Made it out them projects with this project that’s progress y'all"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? will.i.am made it out of the projects bloody ages ago so it's incorrect to state that he made it out of the projects with this par­tic­u­lar project. And this line is therefore NOT A FACT. ✖

"I beat it through my mama, I told her when I was younger, that Imma be that Number One yep I'll be that Number One"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? Focus is key to a strong and lengthy pop career and it seems likely that will.i.am did in fact tell his mother that he would one day have a Number One hit single. Sadly, while we are prepared to give will.i.am the benefit of the doubt on a number of the claims made in this song, there is no record — online or at the British Library — of the con­ver­sa­tion he sup­posedly had with his mother, so we're going to have to label this one NON FACTUAL. ✖

"Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? Things that won't kill but will make you less strong or precisely as strong as you were before: ampu­ta­tion of one or more limbs, living in a scary sinkhole, metal bucket strapped to head (this will strengthen the head alone and will weaken the rest of the body due to the general dis­or­i­ent­a­tion, resulting in an overall dip in strength). It's true that the human body will deal with certain illnesses and in doing so will end up boosting res­ist­ance to future instances of that illness but this line requires a number of caveats and we're going to have to mark this as NON-FACTUAL. ✖

"Coming like a batter ram, batter ram, I'm knocking, knocking down the door again, door again"

Claim made by: will.i.am

Is this line factual? Yes.  ✔
.

Verdict

According to our cal­cu­la­tions, there are 21 different claims made in this song. Of those, only nine are factual, meaning that '#thatPOWER' by will.i.am featuring Justin Bieber is:

57.15% BOLLOCKS

We hope this statistic helps you listen to the song.