Music Review: Justin Bieber has more to say about love on 'Swag ll'

Audio By Carbonatix

NEW YORK (AP) — If it wasn't clocking to you before, it should be now. Justin Bieber is doing whatever he wants.

The 31-year-old has surprised listeners with a second new album in 2025 — “Swag ll” follows July's “Swag.” Both arrived shortly after mysterious billboards teasing the records cropped up in major cities. The new album, his eighth, is an obvious companion piece, not only in name, but also in sound, theme and zeal. Liken it to Taylor Swift's “The Tortured Poets Department” double album drop — this 23-track album is for his diehard loyalists. (Or 44 tracks, if listened to with “Swag,” a combined run time of two hours and 11 minutes.)

The first installment was, in some ways, a return to form. Before he became the internet's first true popstar, and long before he'd find additional fame for his EDM-pop megahits “Where Are Ü Now” and “What Do You Mean?,” Bieber was a 12-year-old Canadian kid uploading R&B covers to a YouTube account created by his mom to share with his friends. His performances were ambitious — Ne-Yo’s “So Sick” and Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” among them — and charismatic, eventually catching the eye of Usher,Scooter Braun, and then the world. On “Swag,” Bieber pulled from those soulful influences, experimenting in the process. Slow-burn, alternative R&B-pop has always been a sweet spot; and on the introspective album, he reunited with those sounds, progressed by some future-seeking collaborators like the guitarist Mk.gee on “Daisies” and the rising R&B singer Dijon on the Prince-esque “Devotion.”

Both reappear on “Swag ll,” as do rappers Lil B and Australian singer Eddie Benjamin. There are three new voices as well: Afrobeats star Tems, rapper Hurricane Chris and the English singer Bakar. Notably absent are the self-referential skits of the first release with the comedian Druski.

And like the first, there are religious ruminations (most directly, in the nearly 8-minute-long coda “Story of God,” in which Bieber tells the story of Adam and Eve) and odes to his wife (“Better Man,” “Mother in You”). In one, the hooky “Love Song,” he sings to Hailey Bieber with an accidental Sara Bareilles-recollection: “I wanna write you a love song / I wanna write you a good one you can’t stop singing to me.” In that regard, there's a kind of lightness to “Swag ll” — likely because Bieber spends less time considering how he is depicted in the media (think “Therapy Session” and the paparazzi recording that introduces “Butterflies” on “Swag”), and, instead, goes deeper into his relationships. There's a reason the “Swag ll” album cover is baby pink and “Swag” was jet black after all.

Bieber continues with the dreamy production of the first “Swag.” Sometimes it works, sometimes it feels repetitive. Some songs are so lo-fi as to feel unfinished, like demos released to function as interludes or raw evocations of vulnerability (“Dotted Line,” in particular). Others have obvious delights, from the joyful trap hi-hats of “Poppin' My S---” to “Petting Zoo,” which recalls his beloved 2013 album “Journals.” Bieber ornaments “Eye Candy” with Michael Jackson-informed inflections, which succeeds — particularly in advance of the next song, “Don't Wanna” featuring Bakar, with its MJ-like production. “Love Song” is a contender for the album's best; “Speed Demon” brings back rap-singing Bieber.

Across 23 — or 44 — songs, those who sift will find gold. They'll also hear a lot of love.

Three stars out of five.

On repeat: “Love Song”

Skip it: “Dotted Line”

For fans of: “Swag,” the Rhode skincare brand, the 2011 film “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never”