One, Two, One Two, Justin Bieber Hits You With SWAG II (Album Review)

This time last week, Beliebers and beyond rushed to their phones in excited anticipation as the day prior, Justin Bieber unexpectedly announced the forthcoming release of his eighth studio album SWAG II. It was Biebermania in full bloom, with a cherry blossom pink to hue the whole ordeal.

The ‘pop’ superstar has always thrived in the art of reinvention, but SWAG II feels less like a costume change and more like a coronation. With 23 tracks, totalling this new era to 46 songs, the second instalment of his sprawling SWAG series is a deliberate swing at the commercial crown. Where chapter one leaned into its experimental nature, this sequel finds Bieber doubling down on melody, romance, and the kind of conviction that only comes when an artist finally stops second-guessing who they are.

And the world caught (and clung) on, too - the figures make this clear. On the day of its debut, Justin Bieber’s ‘SWAG II’ earned 34.65 million streams in its first day of release on Spotify. In its first week, SWAG II debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, racking up 163,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, including 198.77 million on-demand streams - his biggest streaming week yet, crowning him the third most listened to artist on Spotify. This comes after minimal ‘press’ and media panache in the lead-up, just some gentle whispers (iykyk) and a few pink posts sprawled against global landmarks.

This is Bieber, the husband, the father, the collaborator, and the mentor. His priorities are laid out clearly across the tracklist: love, faith, family, and a refusal to play small. If SWAG was the risk, SWAG II is the reward - a confident chapter that asserts him not just as a global superstar, but as a musician with a lineage he’s finally ready to own.

Across SWAG II, Bieber threads his past into the present. You can hear echoes of his first studio album, My Worlds, in the playful brashness of 'Speed Demon'. Reminiscent of the cheekiness of 'Bigger', here he raps about climbing mountains and leaving baggage behind - a manifesto for his new era disguised as a playground taunt. “I got a lotta mountains to climb / I had to leave some baggage behind / And there's something stronger than me / That's paving me a new lane and giving me an energy,” he sings, providing confirmation now, if he didn’t before that, we’re in a new Bieber era, and he’s not messing about.

The slick grooves of 'NEED IT' recall Purpose’s twilight pop, while the silky, lovesick tones of 'Oh Man' pull directly from Changes. Yet the biggest reference point is Bieber himself. The album reads like a retrospective quilt: each era folded neatly into a body of work that proves his evolution has been less about reinvention than refinement.

The collaborators, too, are telling. Gunna, Dijon, Tems, Bakar, Hurricane Chris, Lil B and Eddie Benjamin - Bieber’s guest list isn’t just industry flexing, it’s a revelation of the inner music community he’s building. And he’s not cosplaying as a fan either, he’s just extending the mic. 'I Think You’re Special' with Tems, their second link-up since the Essence remix, is a shimmering standout: their voices mesh so naturally it feels like they’ve found a permanent frequency together (we hope).

photo credit: Renell Medrano

The album’s heartbeat lies in its love songs. 'Better Man' glides with 80s synth shimmer and neo-soul gravity, a poetic outpouring to Hailey that feels both timeless and deeply personal. 'Love Song', with its Dijon fingerprints, is a pop track with a swing, the kind that could have slotted onto Bieber’s sixth studio album Justice but lands here as a celebration of shared craft. Then there’s 'I Do,' a sparkling, New Edition–leaning cut that plays like a grown-up version of Bieber’s early ballads - vows in song form, festive and eternal.

Family life and fatherhood weave themselves into the DNA of SWAG II. 'Mother in You' is a gentle ode to Hailey, while the couple’s baby son, Jack Blues, is tucked into the margins of the record’s themes of legacy and faith. The spiritual undertones peak on “Everything Hallelujah,' which reads less like a pop track and more like a devotional set to stadium sound.

Bieber hasn’t abandoned his mischief, though. 'POPPIN’ MY SHIT” (with Hurricane Chris) is a cheeky, chest-out diss track built for the club, the kind of record destined for late-night chant-alongs. 'Petting Zoo' takes the Journals-era intimacy and wraps it in Changes’ sheen, sultry and self-aware. 'Eye Candy' and 'Bad Honey' both wear their Michael Jackson inspiration proudly, while 'Dotted Line' feels like kidrauhl all grown up - a little rough, raw, and impromptu jam session barely polished, and all the better for it.

If SWAG hinted at rebirth, SWAG II confirms it. This is Bieber’s Genesis moment - the culmination of the creation story of an artist who has stopped chasing trends and started building temples to his own history. The album closes with 'Story of God,' a track that stories devotion and ultimately, faith - a concoction that has inevitably propelled him into this new phase. It simultaneously serves as both a beginning and a revelation, and therefore, an ending. The circle closed. This is, undeniably, and by Bieber’s own words, the cheat code to his success; what has kept him and sustained him - and a reminder to not let this truth be twisted.

In an era where pop stars are telling their stories in trilogies (Beyoncé, I’m talking to you - kindly, of course), one can only hope that Bieber has a SWAG III tucked away in those plush SKYLRK hoodie sleeves. But even if this is the landing point, it’s a triumphant one. Those years of hiatuses, told by everyone but him, make sense: the fruits are expansive, the roots are deep, and the arrival feels undeniable.

For the sceptics, SWAG II might read as Bieber’s attempt to prove he still belongs. For the fans, it’s proof he (and I mean, kidrauhl) never left - he just grew up.

SWAG II is available to listen to on all streaming platforms.