Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh: Look at Beiber’s New Album

Superstar’s latest record charts his artistic happiness

Justin Bieber is like the middle school friend we grew up with that stuck it out. We were young together, we made mistakes together, we learned together and have mellowed out, together. 

Well, not together, exactly. But close enough.

“Baby,” Bieber’s breakout hit, came out a decade ago in January 2010. Fast forward 10 years to last month’s “Yummy”—Justin Bieber is married and has created “Changes,” an album dedicated to love and—for lack of a better word—the changes this rollercoaster of a decade has thrown at him. And it’s good. It’s really good.

In an interview for Apple Music with Zane Lowe, Bieber spoke about his life, faith and wife Hailey Bieber, which all deeply inform the new album. Speaking on the subject of depth, however, Bieber made it clear that this record isn’t meant to be some sort of profound, weighty tracklist.

“This album is not very deep, you know,” Bieber said. “I didn’t go there, like that. I didn’t go super deep with it.”

Sure, it’s not “deep”—it’s fun. Presumably no one would take the song “Yummy” for more than what it is at face value—and frankly, maybe that song should’ve stayed in the Biebers’ bedroom—but what’s been called a tribute to Bieber’s wife is indeed a tribute to his own growth.

Someone who can look back on a decade of turmoil and destructive behavior to produce an album full of tracks lighthearted enough to make a scrooge smile is someone who has chosen to step into a different place.

“This is an album I wrote in the first year of our marriage, so it’s like it’s so fresh, there’s so much more to learn about commitment and you know, building trust and foundation,” Bieber said. 

“It’s been a big reason why I’m coming back and am successful. I think [Hailey] is definitely the reason. There’d be no story without her, she just ties it all together. I mean, she’s given me substance to talk about. She’s the person that I’m learning to love unconditionally.”

Bieber has sung about love his whole life. 

But this record makes manifest a love that’s turned his whole world around, and that’s a depth that speaks for itself. 

Unconditional love—now that’s something to talk about. 

On another note, anything that inspires people to dance is a win for humankind. Bieber’s album, on this criteria, brings in a big W for the team.

The track “Forever” features Post Malone and Clever and deals in multi-faceted beats that grind, snap and figure-eight around a chorus whose big questions bounce and skid in a way that rolls the body through a musical experience that’s like falling through thunder clouds and being struck by lightning at every turn. 

Except you survive and are left considering what a lifetime with someone really means. “Would you watch the sun burn out with me forever, ever, ever, ever?”

“Intentions” featuring Quavo serves up another top-rank bop, in the most technical use of the phrase. Bieber’s comment on depth might shed light on a line like this: “Shout-out to your mom and dad for makin' you / Standin' ovation, they did a great job raisin' you.”

It seems almost sickly-sweet—but it’s self-aware. It’s not deep, duh—it’s the happy-go-lucky side of love that doesn’t need to be dressed up in poetry. Something you’d write on a birthday card.

Listeners would do well to mind the fact that they are being privileged a glimpse into an album-long serenade that’s not really meant for us. 

The Bieber our generation has grown up with is soaring. He’s living with Lyme disease, smacking down insane vocals and digging into deep places within his own spirituality. 

“I just wanna be the best of me,” he sings. 

Like that middle school friend who has recognized the darkness of their past and chooses a different future, Bieber is “goin' through changes,” pushing past his own demons, grabbing potential by the horns and swinging into the future with the rest of us.