A Personal and Bold Return
Heavy with hip-hop influence, Swag fuses Bieber's pop roots with collaborators like Sexxy Red, Gunna and Cash Cobain. With a running time of just under an hour, the album features a mixture of introspective lyrics and upbeat energy.
The titles of tracks like Dadz Love, Therapy Session and Daisies suggest the record is intensely personal. In Daisies, Bieber seems to reflect on his ups and downs in his relationship with his wife, Hailey Bieber, with lyrics such as "falling petals do you love me or not" and "you said forever babe, did you mean it or not?"
Bieber's faith is also threaded throughout the record. Values rooted in Christian faith, which he mentions in tracks like Devotion, Soulful and Forgiveness.
A Nod to History, Focus on the Present
The album is called Swag and might bring fans back to thinking about his 2012 hit Boyfriend, which featured him singing "swag, swag, swag, on you". Promotional images that Hailey posted on social media include images of her and her baby son, reinforcing the album's family emphasis.
The release of the song "I Get It" comes in relatively short order of time since Bieber's last album, Justice, which was released in 2021. Since then, the singer has lain fairly low, only occasionally speaking out about his struggles with fame and privacy. The surprise release of Swag seems like Bieber's way of seizing the narrative back on his own terms.
Fans and fellow artists have been showing an outpouring of support. American rapper Big Sean added in the comments section of Bieber's Instagram post: 'Yes!!!!" while others applauded the album's emotional depth and its unexpected, unannounced release.
