Justin Bieber made information on Friday when he dropped a shock album referred to as Swag. It’s his first album in additional than 4 years.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
All proper. The artist Justin Bieber isn’t any stranger to controversy. Since catapulting to fame as a tween within the early 2000s, the Canadian pop star has made as many headlines about his movie star antics as he has about his huge hits like “Sorry” and “Peaches.” And on Friday, he made information once more when he dropped a shock album referred to as “Swag.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ALL I CAN TAKE”)
JUSTIN BIEBER: (Singing) And it is all I can take. All I can…
CHANG: It’s his first album in additional than 4 years after his report “Justice” in 2021. NPR music editor Hazel Cills joins us now to speak about Bieber’s new album. Hello, Hazel.
HAZEL CILLS, BYLINE: Hello. Thanks for having me.
CHANG: Oh, thanks for being with us. OK, I’m undoubtedly a kind of individuals who know far more about Justin Bieber by means of movie star gossip than by means of his precise music. Sorry. However what did you consider “Swag”? Like, is that this some huge comeback for him or what?
CILLS: It’s a huge comeback, after which it is also not a giant comeback in quite a lot of methods. For me, probably the most fascinating factor about “Swag,” listening to it, is sort of its sound and its fashion. Like, Bieber has labored with a ton of very cool artists on this album – singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr., the producer Dijon and particularly this alt-rock star named Mk.gee, actual title Michael Gordon, who’s everywhere in the album. This album principally would not sound like a pop album. It is – there’s a number of guitar all through. It actually sort of mixes different rock, you realize, with R&B.
For instance, there is a track referred to as “Daisies” on it, that includes Mk.gee – among the best songs on this album, for positive. It is virtually like a throwback Justin Bieber love track, however there isn’t any actual sort of bells and whistles. His vocals completely come by means of. However for that cause, it is sort of not a comeback report – proper? – as a result of it is, like – it is not an enormous breakthrough. It isn’t like a giant pop banger album. It is a very private album. So I do not essentially see “Swag” as being, like, the sound of the summer time.
CHANG: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DAISIES”)
BIEBER: (Singing) Go away me on learn, babe, however I nonetheless get the message. As a substitute of a line…
CHANG: OK, effectively, I’ve to get again to the gossip as a result of we’re all listening to about how his marriage to Hailey Bieber, the mannequin, may very well be on the rocks. So does he get at that on this album? I am so curious.
CILLS: Actually, he undoubtedly does. I imply, the factor about “Swag” that is actually fascinating is it is actually an album about Justin Bieber’s marriage and about him being, you realize, a household man. You understand, he is 31 now. He is a father. He isn’t a teen heartthrob anymore. And it actually seems like “Swag” is an album that he is sort of made for himself and his household; like, not essentially for his followers or form of what the business may anticipate from him. He is actually sort of doubling down on the energy of his marriage, perhaps in response to that sort of tabloid fodder.
You understand, there is a track on right here referred to as “Strolling Away” the place, you realize, he actually sings – you realize, I feel to Hailey – he sings, like, I made you a promise. I informed you, I would change. And form of talks concerning the rising pains of their marriage. And so there’s quite a lot of songs on this album the place he actually sort of dives into, you realize, what his marriage is like and actually how robust it truly is.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WALKING AWAY”)
BIEBER: (Singing) Child, I ain’t strolling away. And each time you do not say my title…
CHANG: OK, so so much on this album about Justin Bieber the household man, however what about all of the controversy in the previous couple of years with respect to his profession? As a result of, like, he canceled his final tour in 2023. Does he course of that on this album as effectively?
CILLS: He undoubtedly does course of that on his album. You understand, Bieber has made some very fascinating profession strikes in the previous couple of years – break up from his longtime supervisor Scooter Braun in 2023. He additionally offered the rights to his catalog for greater than 200 million. And I hear a wearier model of Bieber on this album. I hear somebody who’s form of drained with the business. I hear that particularly on a track referred to as “Butterflies,” the place Bieber sort of sings about, you realize, all the time transferring, all the time hustling. And I actually hear an artist who’s taking inventory of his place within the music business.
CHANG: That’s NPR music editor Hazel Cills. Thanks a lot, Hazel.
CILLS: Thanks.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BUTTERFLIES”)
BIEBER: (Singing) Mixture of ache and pleasure, by no means black and white. ‘Trigger the solar retains shining…
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