Swag

About

The day before the surprise release of Justin Bieber’s seventh album, a series of billboards popped up from Atlanta to Reykjavik—earnest black-and-white photos of the shirtless superstar posing with his wife, Hailey Bieber, and their infant son, Jack Blue, taken by the same photographer who shot the cover art for Kendrick Lamar’s <i>Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers</i>. In the months before, the 31-year-old was unusually candid, sharing esoteric demos and posting frankly about his struggles with mental health and fame: “Don’t you think if I could have fixed myself I would have already?” he wrote on Instagram in June. Beside the photos was a single word: SWAG. A lot has changed in the four years since the pop icon’s last record, 2021’s <i>Justice</i>—from a split with longtime manager Scooter Braun to the birth of his first child in August 2024. Meanwhile, it was rumored (correctly, it would turn out) that he’d been quietly working with producers like Dijon and Mk.gee, whose murky takes on ’80s pop and R&B had been buzzing in more alternative circle. Their influence informs much of the 21-track <i>SWAG</i>, whose emphasis on organic texture, reverb-heavy production, and dreamy vocals stands in contrast to the hyper-polished pop anthems of his past. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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