Justin Bieber’s Justice review

DOING IT JUSTICE

Justin Bieber’s new album is exactly what should’ve been expected

DALIA FISHMAN ONLINE A&E EDITOR

Justin Bieber’s sixth studio album, Justice, caused some commotion when it was released March 19. Met with both high praise and a cease and desist letter from dance duo Justice, the album gives listeners a lot to unpack.

First and foremost, the songs themselves should be addressed. The first track on the album, “2 Much,” begins with a recording of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) speaking about justice, then immediately transitions into a poppy love song, leaving the listener perplexed as to why MLK was even included.

After that come several more vague, relatively catchy, but mostly forgettable love songs. “Deserve You,” “As I Am,” “Off My Face,” “Holy” and “Unstable” all fit in this category. Just like almost all of the songs on this album, they have really interesting and well done instrumentals. Ranging from piano solos and guitar ballads to more electronic beats, the interludes and music behind the lyrics are certainly the best part of the album.

The most bizarre moment of Justice falls after track six. “MLK Interlude” is just one minute and 44 seconds of MLK giving one of his powerful speeches from Selma in 1965. Bieber didn’t alter it in any way, shape or form. He just took the revolutionary’s words and put them on his album for no apparent reason.

The second half of the album is certainly better than the first. “Die For You,” “Peaches,” “Loved By You” and “Anyone” are the best songs on the record. They are all different from his usual pop sound in the best way possible. Each has a distinct style, ranging from slow and simple traditional ballads to faster songs better suited for dancing or singing along to in the car.

The rest of the songs on the album, “Hold On,” “Somebody,” “Ghost,” “Love You Different” and “Lonely,” all fit into the category of being extremely mediocre. None

of the songs are appalling, though, and most Bieber fans won’t find anything unlistenable (MLK speeches aside).

Bieber features amazing artists, such as Khalid, Chance the Rapper and Daniel Caesar, on this album. Every one of these guest singers instantly outshines Bieber in every way, possibly because each of their singing voices are just so much better than Bieber’s own.

The worst aspect of every song is Bieber’s voice. He sounds whiny. Even when the songs start to pick up tempo, he either doesn’t match the instrumentals with his singing, or he rushes and sounds both out of breath and mousy. The lyrics are nothing special, with lazy rhymes, vague phrases that feel like typical love song pandering and have no evident deeper meanings. Lyrically, Justice is just like anything else on the radio. Nothing about it stands out as especially insightful or skilled. From the title, cover art and insertion of MLK, this album seemed as though it was going to make strong statements about justice—or lack thereof—and maybe even touch on Bieber’s religious experience. Instead, it’s just another collection of semicatchy but mostly forgettable and basic pop songs. Perhaps the album’s greatest weakness is that it doesn’t feel like a family of similar songs with common themes, but rather a collection of random songs, all with very different sounds. None of the songs on this album are inherently bad. If any one of them came on the radio, it’s unlikely they would be skipped immediately. However, between the lack of cohesion among the tracks, the surface-level lyrics and, worst of all, Bieber’s irritating voice, this album is an injustice to music fans.

Def Jam Recordings