The long-awaited return to pop stardom of Justin Biber has been one of unparalleled levels. Since his first full-length release in 2015, almost a full half a decade now, the pop world had felt as if it were truly missing that big name, strictly pop, male superstar that it once boasted come the beginnings of the 2010s. Naturally, with his streak of features within recent years, the pop world had become more and more demanding for the solo return of Bieber and with him, the presumable return to the throne.
What has instead ensued is one, a most pathetic and lifeless attempt to return to form from a musical standpoint, and two, with that, a heap of controversial baggage as an individual. Changes Justin’s formal return to the spotlight is by no means the progression into the pop hall of fame that his career so long ago near promised, but is instead a trainwreck display of a man that had halted his progression as an artist only to return half as much refined as before. This certainly isn’t the first time Justin has attempted to reinvent himself as an artist. In fact, his first saw him capturing the passing of his youth and transitioning into manhood, only for him to years later attempt the exact same shtick. Only the second time around, the glitz and glamour didn’t veil the lack of substance Bieber had relegated himself to.
Justin takes no time in exposing his hollow and unrefined material, with the intro track, “All Around Me.” In an evident transition from his former pure pop, kidz bop sound to moody r&b and emotionally in touch performer, Bieber sets the painfully slow and reconceived version of himself into practice. What has become apparent from his absence in the spotlight is the deterioration of definable characteristics, as a once inescapable and unmistakable Bieber struts his lack of individuality. His vocals on the track are simply just not strong enough to bare the weight of the emptiness that is created by the watered-down instrumental. Bieber exposes his weaknesses from the opening moments on the track, putting on display a surprising lack of well, substance, material, and a sound that manages to leave even the slightest of impressions.
Whilst Bieber makes certain his new genre-bending sound, he also manages to stay true to his all so humble beginnings and includes several more pop-oriented cuts. “Intentions” is a classic example of Bieber playing with the more conventional pop equations, as the track welcomes a host of far more traditionally earworm-like traits, synonymous with the Bieber brand. Unfortunately, a lifeless instrumental that features clunky and cheap synth sounds and lazy bass that fails to bring any semblance of catchy melody to the song ensures that Biebers attempted to return to pop is equally as flavourless and nondescript as his efforts in r&b. Somehow overshadowing the lack of care or interest within the production is the effort of the vocalists on the track, one Bieber himself and collaborator Quavo of Migos fame bring essentially nothing to the track. Whilst Bieber at least tries to sound sincere with his airy tone, in doing so failing to leave his presence on the track and rather delivers a forgettable vocal performance, Quavo essentially copies and pastes his verse from one of fifty of his last pop crossovers, leaving not a single remnant of the intent to improve the song.
What is perhaps the greatest offense on an album filled with so many is the inclusion of the first single for the album “Yummy.” What the song does more than anything is demonstrate not only a lack of progression musically, but a reversion, as the sheer stupidity, innocence and lack of lyrical talent here rivals that of Bieber’s equally as headache-inducing “Eenie Meenie.” A lifeless instrumental that poorly mixes elements of pop and hip hop with what is perhaps Bieber’s most uncharismatic performance to date all tied up in the ill-conceived idea of a song not only titled “Yummy” but with its most prominent and repeated lyric being the same, leads to the worst single thus far this year. Much the same can be said for the remix featuring Summer Walker that has been added to the album to boost streaming numbers. Whilst it’s nice to see minor modifications made production-wise to insert her, she feels awfully out of place and by no means does she sound bad, the failure of the remix stem from the song being “Yummy,” a strangely confused and awfully executed pop song, far beyond saving.
A recurring trend on this album seems to be the failure of Bieber in relation to vocal cohesion and chemistry. The first of this instance is seen on the track “Forever,” featuring Post Malone and Clever. One would think the lack of a strong vocal presence on Bieber’s part would allow for his bland vocals to mesh well with essentially anyone brought on to assist the track, yet the sounds of Post and Clever seem to clash with the smooth, yet ineffective Bieber. The verse from Post feels especially phoned in here, removing any and all of those signature traits of a Post Malone performance, taking away that slight rock edge that makes him so popular across genres all in an attempt to blend with a past his prime Bieber. Much the same can be said for Clever, who actually sounds as if he himself is attempting a Post Malone impression, yet here, he keeps the classic Post edge and roughness, causing him to clash even more with the already convoluted clashing of the vocals. Much the same can be said about “Second Emotion” where Bieber links up with past collaborator, Travis Scott. Granted, Bieber feels as if he tries harder on this track than any other on the album, utilising his range well in order to convey the emotion required to sell the lyrical narrative, one of a yearning for a loved one. The real issue with the track comes from the Travis feature, which deeming a fully-fledged ‘verse’ would be a stretch. The disjointed ad-libs and constant switching between subtle background presence and a dominant sound in the foreground make Travis’ presence awfully rough and poorly mixed. The worst offender of the Justin collaborations is easily “Running Over” featuring Lil Dicky. Justin on his own doesn’t sound particularly off-putting, more just a nonfactor, despite this, Lil Dicky feels as if he does as much as humanly possible to ruin the track. Whilst his flow may be something to admire, his lyrics are so mindnumbingly stupid and devoid of substance. Furthermore, Lil Dicky continues his eternal streak of failing to live up to his self proclaimed title of a comedy rapper, dropping some of his corniest lines to date. The production on this track has a horrible cheapness to it, with its clunky synth work, the repetitiveness and irritative qualities of the instrumental accentuate all the flaws of especially Dicky even more.
Towards the backend of the album, it seems Bieber substitutes these cheap and childlike instrumentals for watered down and bland ones in order to attempt to truly sell the emotional image he crafts for himself. Whilst the production hits a lull, having so little impact across essentially the whole last leg of the record, Justin pretty comfortably manages to find a pocket where he at least sells his vocal confidence through the frail and vulnerable person he paints himself as lyrically. Changes whilst horribly thin, with only a layer of acoustic guitar forming the instrumental, is the most technically vocal adapt Bieber sounds throughout the album. Bieber sings of his constantly changing lifestyle and manages to sell it through his overly emotional delivery, yet as a sonic experience, the track never manages to find its roots due to the lack of production supporting him. Bieber continues his serviceable vocal performances on the track “Confirmation,” as his dreamy and smooth vocals gloss over the track as he details the beauty of taking time and the leisurely concept of sharing the rest of his life with a loved one. Whilst beauty in simplicity is the selling point of the track, it again suffers from overly bland and simple production that barely exists. Warped subtle synths and keys cascade down, following the dictation of Bieber’s vocals on the chorus, yet during the verses, listeners are left all but with a stripped back clicking of the fingers and clunky, bubbly bass that fails to give the track real body or substance. Much the same can be applied to the two tracks that proceed the bookend “Yummy” remix. Bland cuts that slam the listening experience to a sluggish halt. What Bieber uses as areas to appeal to his character on “Changes” and “Confirmation” seem to have been removed on ‘final tracks’; “That’s What Love Is” and “At Least For Now.” The lack of character to be found in either of the instrumentals, leaves the unrefined lyrical content of the tracks exposed, thrusting Bieber’s repetitive vocal refrains and ‘oooo’ substitutions into the limelight. The album unfortunately ends on a pair of tracks that play into this aspect of Bieber that makes him sound terribly insecure and ingenuine, with all the sweet vocal embellishments removed, Bieber’s vocal stance on the aforementioned tracks stink of a falsified media persona.
Bieber’s return to the spotlight with Changes is one in which his evident failures and limitations are perhaps equally as present as his initial breakthrough into the scene. Trading a world of criticism directed to a youth attempting to find his way in amongst a relentless industry for the attempts of a reformed and matured Bieber trying to carve a place himself in the recontextualised moody landscape of pop exposes what feels like an extremely underwhelming and uninformed return to form. ‘Yummy’ was far from the blockbuster return Bieber had hoped for and the full-length album ‘Changes’ feels much the same. A once titan and unmissable Bieber seems to fade and blend in all too well to a brand of pop that hosts equally as forgettable music and vocalists. Despite the album’s efforts to allow Biber to paint the world of his personal life, more than ever he feels disconnected from the music, packing uninspired and bland filler upon filler in to support the gaps between the tracks that burst with exceptional examples of failure.
Score: 3/10
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