Changes - Justin Bieber: Review
is a Canadian mega pop star who first blew up off of some viral singles in the beginning of last decade. Even though it has been five years since his last studio album he has maintained a consistent presence in the news as well as on the charts as he has featured in a number of major hits.
Review By Lavender:
I never really hated Justin Bieber as much as the basic ass tasteless dudes who shit on his personality for internet points when he was famous as a 15 year old. Rather I just thought his music was a bit too boring and generic for me to really grab onto it. This definitely got better on his 3rd proper record Purpose which at the very least had some defining personality that made the tracks actually sound like Justin Bieber music rather than computer generated pop tunes. But the 5 years since then clearly hasn't helped the problem, as Changes sounds as devoid of anything defining as any of Bieber's previous works.
The singles did not have me excited for this album, starting with the nauseating mega-hit Yummy and ending with the lifeless trap misfire Intentions featuring Quavo of Migos fame. While were on the topic of this records rap features we should go over a handful of the absolute worst songs the album has to offer. Forever sees Justin Bieber teaming up with Post Malone, and two of the worlds most generic pop figures team up to do what they do best and write a completely lifeless song that I forgot about while still listening to it. Running Over doesn't feature the worst performance from Justin in the world but it does feature one of the worst performers in the world as Lil Dicky is just fucking terrible on his feature, and I continue to wonder why industry people give him opportunities and exposure like this. Finally Second Emotion sees Justin ripping off a Travis Scott song with what sounds like a weak leftover Astroworld instrumental, but the worst part of the track by far is that Travis Scott himself shows up to absolutely embarrass himself on a guest feature verse that sounds like a radio freestyle that would get made fun of on World Star.
The actively terrible songs don't stop there as Available features some absolutely atrocious mixing paired with an ugly rattling trap beat and a terrible breathy hook that makes me want nothing but to turn the song off. E.T.A is a comatose love song with another absolutely terrible hook that had no business making it onto a record of this caliber. And finally Confirmation is like an already boring pop song that is being played at half speed and the dreadful slowness of it all makes me want to stop listening and stare at a blank wall because it would be much more fun.
Just as frequently as the record is outwardly bad, its painfully boring. Habitual has some decent vocals but the weak trap beat and total lack of structure make it a nondescript snoozer. Come Around Me has the same beat as every single popular song over the past year and while the hook actually has some potential initially it stops short and ends up being kind of flat. Changes features some decent emotion but the camp counselor grade acoustic guitar playing and absolutely terrible lyrics make it impossible to take any part of the song seriously. Finally That's What Love Is starts off fine but does absolutely nothing compositionally or instrumentally to evolve or change the song as it just hangs around until it stops a few minutes later.
Despite what people will no doubt try and say, the record isn't all bad. It is bookended by some pretty genuine love songs, the opener All Around Me and the closer At Least For Now. Take It Out On Me has some bonafide trap production behind t and a dvsn sample that makes for the records best instrumental. The song succeeds at creating a vibe and while it doesn't do much else the track is still a refreshing and welcome moment on the record. Finally the second single turned out to be the best track the album had to offer. Get Me is a collaboration between Justin and Kehlani that has more vocal chemistry than I would have anticipated and is much more capable of holding my attention than the rest of these tracks despite a kind of weak instrumental.
Changes is not at all a step in the right direction for Justin Bieber. At a point in his career where most artists have found their sound and are starting to struggle with pushing it in new directions, Justin still doesn't have any distinct features about his music and that makes listening to the 50 minutes of Changes a serious drag. With only a few highlights to break up the monotony I will warn you not to try and listen to this record in one sitting, or you'll be risking severe case of narcolepsy when track after track bores you to sleep. 2.5/10
