Justin Bieber reclaims pop crown with sixth studio album 'Justice'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 3/19/21

In case there was a misconception that Justin Bieber had left, the Prince of Pop is back.

At midnight Friday, Bieber's sixth studio album Justice made its way into the world. Thirteen months after dropping R&B-heavy Changes, the 27-year-old took a hard left back into pop and proved yet again that he is just competing with himself.

The standard edition's 16 tracks give Bieber room to explore his humanity and musicality from every angle. Chart-topping singles "Holy" (featuring Chance the Rapper), "Lonely" (featuring Benny Blanco), "Anyone" and "Hold On" carry Bieber's enduring pop legacy forward, while folksly "Off My Face" or funk-infused tracks "Die For You" (Dominic Fike) show range.

In addition to the album, the music video for "Peaches" featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon was unveiled at midnight—adding yet another layer:

The Canadian walked Vogue through every track via Zoom and expounded upon the project's most vulnerable offering "Unstable" featuring 17-year-old wunderkind The Kid LAROI:

"I was in a really, really bad place maybe a year ago. My wife [Hailey Baldwin Bieber] was just there for me through it all. So the whole message is, like, you’ve been there for me while I’m really unstable. So that song really resonates with where I was at. There’s probably a lot of people who have been in this position. That is always the goal: to make music that’s relatable and can touch people.

"It was important for me to not only talk about the lovey-dovey stuff but to also talk about some of the struggles [and think about] what people are going through at this time. A lot of people have lost jobs, lost loved ones—their whole lives have been turned around. It’s caused a lot of instability. So I hope [Justice] can provide some comfort or stability."

While the sentiment behind Justice is all Bieber, he linked with plenty of heavy-hitting producers and writers to execute his vision, including Josh Gudwin, Finneas, Jon Bellion, Andrew Watt, Skrillex, Louis Bell and the Monsterz & Strangers. Other featured artists are BEAM, Burna Boy and Khalid.

Listen to Justice here.

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