Justin Bieber’s New Breakup Album ‘Purpose’ Is So Insufferable—And So Brilliant

While Bieber’s attempts to give the impression all-grown-up on Purpose are equal parts annoying and laughable, the songs are too damn good to care. Say it with me: “I like Justin Bieber’s music.”

The day of weighing up has come. The worrying question that has sent culture spiralling into existential crisis has been asked: Is it OK to like Justin Bieber for his music?

Justin Bieber’s New Breakup Album ‘Purpose’ Is So Insufferable—And So Brilliant

Purpose, the crooning Canadian menace’s most recent album, doesn’t just grant you permission to respect the public tyrant’s music. It downright compels you to. It’s his best album ever, and ranks among the best pop releases this year.

That’s not to say that Purpose isn’t insufferable. This is Justin Bieber we’re talking about.

But whether he’s mourning the pitfalls of being super-famous, begging the world to think about the children (?) while raving at the club (??), or alternately seducing his next hookup while flippantly telling his ex-lovers to bug off, Purpose represents an evolution in the musical idea of what it means to be Justin Bieber.It’s tempting to call Purpose a musical bar mitzvah of sorts, and certainly the bubblegum earworm days of “Baby” are long over—as are Bieber’s try-too-hard attempts at becoming the second coming of Usher or Chris Brown, all of which were about as embarrassing as any teen’s aggressive efforts to come off older than they really are.

But while Purpose is a mature, immediate sound, the kind of music adults make and—more importantly—listen to, it’s not entirely accurate to herald it as Bieber’s arrival as a grownup, as a man.

In fact, Purpose’s greatest asset is its unabashed owning of Bieber’s lingering petulance and immaturity, defined by the arrogance that comes along with being the most talked about and love-hated celebrity in the world—and the middle finger he throws to those who tell him not to be that way.

It’s not for everyone. But then again, as we’ve learned over the years, neither is Justin Bieber.

The album begins with a mea culpa that doubles as a manifesto. “Mark my words / That’s all I have,” he sings on the opening track, fittingly titled “Mark My Words”—a not-so-thinly veiled reference to the Child Star Gone Wild antics he’s spent the better part of a year on a publicity tour atoning for but never truly, genuinely absolved himself of.

It makes an already aggressively meta album—a record chock-full of references to fame and scrutiny and the tolls of both—even more meta. The purpose of Purposeis not contrition, or to prove those asshat Bieber days are behind him. The purpose is to serve up music good enough, distinct enough, different enough for us to not care either way.

As much as Purpose is a self-reflection on becoming a man in the face of tabloid persecution, it’s a plea for sympathy for that very thing. We can like your new music, Justin. But let’s not go too far.

Bieber’s new sound, which already made a splash this year with the trifecta of hit singles “Sorry,” “What Do You Mean?” and “Where Are Ü Now,” owes much to the influence of his new-school collaborators Diplo, Skrillex, and Poo Bear, three producers with utterly ridiculous names, but who infuse the R&B-dance direction Bieber has been heading in for the last few albums with surprising and necessary seriousness.

The aforementioned “Mark My Words” serves not just to set the tone thematically, but musically. It’s clear from the get-go that Bieber’s aspirations lie in becoming the musical lovechild of The Weeknd and Drake, but after they shook things up a bit by having Ed Sheeran stop by for a night of kinky pleasure. Frank Ocean might have been there, too.

The song is apparently about Bieber’s ex Selena Gomez, as is most of the album. It is sung almost entirely in falsetto, as is most of the album. It sounds a little like something that might play in the background of a massage parlor on St. Mark’s Place. Honestly, as does most of the album.
“I’ll Show You” is darker, bassier, and more robust. It’s very sleek and very sexy, but also very moody, like it should soundtrack a scene in a movie where the star is driving down a dark road to break up with his lover, staring out the window introspectively.

Introspection is the word of the day on Purpose. Bieber’s tiny-violin lamentations on the burden of being Justin Bieber kicks into high gear here, too. “My life is a movie and everyone’s watching,” he sings. “It’s not easy.” And then, later: “Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing / When the pressure’s coming down like lighting.”

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