The Reviews For Justin Bieber’s New Album ‘Changes’ Are In, And They’re Brutal
"R&B slow jams are best when they’re really sad or graphically horny, and [the songs on 'Changes'] are neither."
Last Friday, Justin Bieber released his highly-anticipated fifth studio album, Changes.
The new album comes five years after his last project Purpose, where Justin cancelled the remainder of his world tour for some “rest and relaxation”. After 18 months on the road, Justin explained his reasons for taking time off on Instagram.
“I want my career to be sustainable, but I also want my heart, mind and soul to be sustainable,” he said at the time. “So that I can be the man I want to be, the husband I eventually want to be, and the father I want to be.”
In Justin’s four years away from music, he did exactly what he took time off to achieve. Justin Bieber got married — something that Changes doesn’t let you forget. Changes is basically just a soppy, 17-song love letter to his wife, Hailey Bieber, so it’s no surprise that Justin released his new album on Valentine’s Day.
The critical response to the album so far hasn’t been great, with most reviewers lambasting its lack of ambition and direction. We published our own review of the album this morning, but here’s what the rest of the critics out there are saying.
Justin Bieber Is Now A Wife Guy
It’s worth pointing out that no reviews deny the power and strength of Justin Bieber’s voice. He is a powerhouse. But the very obvious theme of love and marriage in Justin’s Bieber’s Changes is both the album’s strength and downfall. Most reviews of the album focuses on Justin’s lack of variation from singing about anything other than loving his wife.
Emma Garland from Vice sums up it up pretty perfectly, claiming Justin “has made a full pivot to Wife Guy” — which is far from a compliment. Famously, Chance the Rapper was also dubbed a Wife Guy after he released The Big Day, another album similarly focused on his admiration for his spouse.
“It isn’t exciting or dynamic and suffers from dragging in places, part of this is down to the lack of variation on the album,” Nick Roseblade writes on Clash Music. “Yes, the backing tracks sound great and Bieber’s voice is strong, but the songs never really go anywhere or do anything. Other than start and stop.”
But perhaps after such a long time in the spotlight, this project is exactly what Justin Bieber needed to produce. Michael Cragg from The Guardian calls Changes “an album that feels like a purely selfish endeavour on Bieber’s part.” While Billboard’s Jason Lipshutz believes Changes is “a literal passion project… that Bieber needed to make at this moment.”
Far from the smash album that Purpose was, filled with pop hits like ‘Sorry’ and ‘What Do You Mean’, Changes feels more like a cathartic diary entry. “For those who have watched Bieber grow up in the spotlight… this sense of newfound peace is easy to digest, a rocky Hollywood story with a happy ending,” Lipshutz continued.
So really, for all that Justin Bieber has given to the music industry over the past decade, he can have a little heartfelt wife album as a treat.
The Soulful R&Bieber Is Back
Justin Bieber’s voice has always suited R&B, so Changes sounds gorgeous — thanks in large part to the production of Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd. But the joy of R&B is the pain, the joy and the balance between the two, which is something, according to critics, that this album seriously lacks.
Herein lies the biggest issue with Bieber’s new project — every track sounds the same and is just a 51-minute long muddled love letter to his partner. “There’s no tension, no build,” Emma Garland from Vice writes. “R&B slow jams are best when they’re really sad or graphically horny, and [the songs on Changes] are neither.”
The sound of the album isn’t offensive, the lyrics and beats are fine, but Changes feels like a nothing album. As Jeremy Helligar from Variety describes it: “Bieber is more concerned with setting a mood than pumping out hooks… [Justin’s] voice and the production are flawless, and his soul is in the right place — but there’s something airless about the album.”
justin bieber’s album is literally the most white washed r&b album i’ve ever heard pic.twitter.com/9K1QiWWsIU
— ً (@touchnick) February 14, 2020
Only two tracks in the 17-song album really lean into the pop genre, which are the two singles Justin’s already pushed in promo for Changes. This leaves 15 soft-sounding songs about his life and his wife that become monotonous as you continue to listen. “Many of these songs feel one-note, starting and ending in the same place,” Music Junkee contributor Richard S. He explains. “You’ll either retch at the thought of this many sentimental love songs, or be receptive enough to let it sink in.”
“This isn’t so much an album that would rile you to the point of turning it off. Rather, it washes over you, with its mostly average beats and seemingly random cluster of guest features,” The Independent’s Roisin O’Connor aptly describes.
But music-starved Beliebers are obviously unfazed by critics reviews, and continue to stream Changes. However once the curiosity wears off, you’ll soon realise that Changes is just a nice-sounding album that speaks, but really says nothing of substance.
Photo Credit: Joe Termini