Grammys 2026: Justin Bieber's 'SWAG' Trades a Pop Comeback for R&B Conviction: Album Review
- Abby Anderson
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Stand-out tracks: "DAISIES" "YUKON" "405"
Our favorites: "ALL I CAN TAKE" "THINGS YOU DO" "WALKING AWAY"
Release date: July 11, 2025
Label: Def Jam Recordings
For fans of: ZAYN, Rihanna, The Weeknd
Grammys Album of the Year prediction: Top 3 Contender
Dropped as a surprise. Twenty-one tracks. The first full-length project from Justin Bieber in four years, and first since departing from his longtime management. So what has Justin Bieber been bottling up for so long that he was this intent to mark his return with such integrity? Honestly? His irrepressible swag. Whether or not that idea is taken as swagger (which Bieber has never been without) or as the abbreviation for Stuff We All Get, SWAG sees Justin Bieber at his most reflective, daring, and artistically robust.
Opening SWAG with “ALL I CAN TAKE” feels almost like a sonic nod to the Bieber of long past — and, more importantly, to his desire to move forward. He sings, “Feels personal when no one’s listening / There’s things I know I can’t change, Lord knows I’ve tried / Oh, baby, we can leave it all tonight,” flexing his best MJ-inspired vocal stims. He doesn’t chase nostalgia, but transforms it, actively shaping Justin Bieber into a matured adult pop star rather than the teen heartthrob the world once froze him as.
“DAISIES” quickly takes the crown for the biggest solo hit Bieber has had in a decade. Its plucky riffs and sunny tales of love feel sweetly romantic, carried by a confidence that has become synonymous with Justin Bieber himself. There’s no desperation here, no reaching, just a comfort in joy that reads as earned, lived-in, and entirely his own. More sultry and more luxurious than most R&B-pop, “YUKON” distorts Bieber’s vocal line into a softness that pairs beautifully with the song’s simple, string-based production. The restraint is what seduces most, with an intimacy that is implied rather than announced, and a warmth that is allowed to linger rather than rush. Still, Justin Bieber has never been one to hide from lyrical pop culture effervescence. “GO BABY” arrives as an overt love letter to his wife, Hailey, nodding openly to her success both as an entrepreneur and as a constant partner as he’s settled into adulthood. The song glows with pride and affection, playful without being shallow, personal without being precocious.
Bieber floats through the back half of the album’s A-side with “THINGS YOU DO” and “BUTTERFLIES,” leaning further into a more mature, R&B-style of pop than his earliest roots. These tracks drift by like late-night thoughts you don’t want to interrupt. “WALKING AWAY” hits its mark as a great pop recording laced with a Bieber who faces his fears rather than running from them. “Made you a promise / Told you I’d change / It’s just human nature / These growing pains,” he admits, capturing the quiet bravery of accountability. So as SWAG turns toward its second half, spoken interludes from comedian Druski provide a lighthearted yet grounding narrative, framing Bieber’s development as both an artist and an individual. Sonically, the album shifts toward a fusion of soul, hip-hop, and R&B, expanding its emotional range without losing cohesion.
Bieber’s career has long been marked by his ability to produce great collaborations, and SWAG continues that tradition, not by chasing radio dominance, but by finding groundedness. Collaborations with Dijon, Sexyy Red, and Cash Cobain allow Bieber to fuse his smooth pop identity with theirs, creating moments that feel intentional rather than engineered.
But Bieber isn’t one to pass up a moment of attention should it come, clocking his own “It’s not clocking to you that I’m standing on business” meme before transitioning into the most deeply committed, intentional stretch of the album. The synth-trap pulse of “405,” the smooth-rap confidence of “SWAG,” and the stripped, demo-style intimacy of “ZUMA HOUSE” all circle the same unwavering truth; he has a love so steady it feels insistently lived-in. That devotion culminates on the album’s closer, Marvin Winans’ gospel “FORGIVENESS,” grounding the record in faith and grace. “You came from Heaven to Earth / To show the way,” he sings, a line that reframes the album not as reinvention for spectacle, but renewal with purpose.
What makes SWAG such a remarkable accomplishment is its ability to be so distinctly Bieber, full of pop hits, warm romanticism, and stunningly smooth vocal production, while decisively moving him out of the category of a star of the past. SWAG makes it clear: Justin Bieber is here not to repeat himself, but to reinvent, relearn, and reclaim his own narrative.
GRAMMY FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Justin Bieber has never had a stronger horse in the race in terms of the Grammys than he has with SWAG. It's creative, it's bold, it honors the growth and development of an artist through the lens of music. Bieber would be a dark horse winner in the Album of the Year category, but it's far from out of the question. SWAG's greatest downfall is it's inherent peace, to the point that it doesn't spark much of a conversation outside of it's inherently meta conversation on the teen star to mature popstar pipeline that Justin Bieber has mastered. But in terms of quality pop-R&B fusion records, SWAG is hard to beat.
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