DETAILS: How has your relationship with Bieber changed over the years?
Scooter Braun: I go through the same experiences as someone raising a child, just with heightened sensitivities, because when he does something dumb, it’s front-page news. When you’re young, you idolize the older man in your life and do anything he says. As you get older, you want to be more independent. You’ve got to let them make the mistakes, then be there to help them when they fall.

DETAILS: Of course. But one of the mistakes he makes could be fatal. How do you balance that risk?
Scooter Braun: If I was the parent, I’d have been there for the first 13 years. I’m picking up the pieces. He’s 20. Ariana Grande, who I also manage, is 21. When they make a mistake, I have to literally look them in the eye and say, “It doesn’t matter that you pushed me away, I’m here to help you now.” I said this to two of my artists the other day, as a joke: “Maybe it’s time for me to have my own kids and stop raising other people’s poorly.”

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DETAILS: David Geffen is one of your idols. By the time he was your age, he’d discovered Jackson Browne and worked with the Eagles, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell. Where’s your Joni Mitchell?
Scooter Braun: I make very successful records today, he made successful records then. I feel I have amazing artists. Carly Rae Jepsen is one of the best songwriters I know. Ariana has one of the most incredible voices I’ve ever heard.