"Purpose", the evolution of a teen pop star

On the 13 of November, Justin Bieber launched his album Purpose. You must have heard “Sorry”, “What Do You Mean” and “Where Are Ü Now” the singles from the album. Based only on these songs, I had no intention to listen to it. However, the press praised it and funnily enough, my classmates too, so I decided to give it a listen. 

      It is indeed an interesting album. Perfectly playing with the electronic poppy songs and ballads, alongside some much more worked on lyrics compared to what we’ve heard from Bieber before. “Life Is Worth Living” is a good example of this evolution, “It’s like you’re stuck on a treadmill/Running in the same place/You got your hazard lights on now” are my favorite lyrics of this song, the metaphorical image of it is full of poetry; a poetry I didn’t expect coming from the pop star. 

     Nevertheless, the best song in the album is “Love Yourself” a song written in collaboration with Ed Sheeran (he also does the background vocals in the chorus). The song is beautifully simple, no unnecessary effects added, only a trumpet at one point which makes the song even more addictive. Even though we can clearly sense Sheeran’s touch, Bieber’s voice goes utterly well with the melody. 

    No matter these amazing songs we still have some songs, really bieber-ly, such as Been You, a song so full of effect, we can wonder where it is Justin’s real voice or not.

    This album is definitely not the album of the year, but it can be considered as Justin Bieber’s best album yet, not only for the evolution of the artist but also how smartly contemporary it is.

You can get Purpose here or in your nearest record shop.

Noura x