More than a decade and a half into his life in the spotlight, Justin Bieber has been able to maintain success in the music industry while many other former child stars have either faded from the spotlight or fallen to the wayside entirely. His most recent album, 2021’s Justice, spawned the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single “Peaches” and the top-10 entries “Holy,” “Anyone,” and “Ghost.” Bieber has largely laid low in the years since then, welcoming his first child with wife Hailey Bieber last August.
Now, seemingly out of nowhere, Bieber is back with the surprise release of his seventh studio album Swag. In the lead-up to the album’s release, the Canadian hitmaker signaled that he was dealing with personal issues that may or may not come out in forthcoming music.
“Don’t you think if I could have fixed myself I would have already?” the singer wrote on Instagram. “I know I’m broken. I know I have anger issues. I tried to do the work my whole life to be like the people who told me I needed to be fixed like them. And it just keeps making me more tired and more angry. The harder I try to grow, the more focused on myself I am.”
On Swag, Bieber sings about his life as a new father on “Dadz Love” and serenades his wife on tracks like “Go Baby” and “Walking Away.” “Baby, I ain’t walking away / You were my diamond / Gave you a ring / I made you a promise / I told you I’d change / It’s just human nature / These growing pains / And baby, I ain’t walking away,” he sings.
Along the way, Bieber weaves in spoken interludes ranging from honest confessions like the aptly titled “Therapy Session” to the tongue-in-cheek “Standing on Business,” which samples Bieber himself in a much-memed clip that went viral last month. Artists like Gunna, Sexyy Red, and Marvin Winans join Bieber for featured spots on the project.
It remains unclear if Bieber will go on tour in support of Swag. He ended his Justice World Tour in 2022 early after having to prioritize his health.