Justin Bieber Returns to Studio amid Strange Behavior Speculation: ‘He Seemed at Peace’

While his wife Hailey Baldwin Bieber was attending the Met Gala in New York City earlier in the week, her husband Justin Bieber was getting his groove back, hitting a recording studio in Iceland to lay down new tracks.

“He seemed at peace, and the Iceland setting seemed like it was the perfect retreat,” a source tells PEOPLE.

Bieber, 31, and his musical colleagues stayed at the Eleven Deplar Farm hotel in Ólafsfjörður, Iceland, where they couldn’t have been more isolated from outside distractions. The small, luxury lodge is a restored sheep farm at the edge of the Arctic circle on Iceland’s North Coast, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and is a hotspot for celebs to spot the Northern Lights in the winter.

The lodge comes with a fully equipped, detached Floki recording studio, where Bieber spent time recording his new music.

Between sessions, there was time for plenty of activities.

A rep for the hotel and spa noted, “During his time at Deplar, Bieber and his circle of close collaborators disappeared into the quiet brilliance of Flóki Studios, tapping into the inspiration born from seclusion and untamed beauty. Between sessions, they immersed themselves in everything the lodge has to offer—from invigorating cold plunges to fireside sauna sessions, heli-snowboarding, fat biking and more.”

Upon his departure, Bieber posted on his Instagram a final carousel of images saying it was “the best trip of his life.”

This wasn’t Bieber’s first time to Iceland.

In 2015, his music video for “I’ll Show You” was largely shot in Iceland’s South Coast, shooting at places like Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Fjadargljufur Canyon, Seljalandfoss waterfall, Reynisfara black sand beach and the famous Iceland plane wreckage on Solheimasandur.