As one of many world’s pre-eminent pop stars, Justin Bieber’s by no means been afraid to zag left as an alternative of proper. That spirit heralded 2015’s Function, his acclaimed digital pivot after an early profession of churning out teeny bopper radio hits. He’s accomplished it once more with SWAG, introduced lower than 24 hours previous to its launch and arriving throughout a socially fraught interval for the singer and new father. The album sports activities a ’90s-adjacent synth pop vibe inside a cohesive and unexpectedly grounded-sounding run of 21 songs that don’t really feel winded nor overstuffed. Gunna, Sexyy Crimson, Lil B, Money Cobain, Dijon, and Mk.gee all lent a serving to hand, and it’s the latter two artists who really feel like they’ve left the deepest fingerprints throughout Bieber’s nonetheless ringingly pop croon. They add a vital aura of elevated sophistication to his in any other case re-trodden lyrics about loving Hailey Bieber and loving God. Mk.gee’s guitar add a spectral glow to “Daisies” and each different monitor (although he’s uncredited). Dijon’s wild, soulful runs, heard on “Devotion,” is the blueprint that it appears like Bieber is following on “Go Child,” and “Butterflies.” There are comparisons to mid-career MJ too, however as an entire these songs sound more up to date than that — with certainly, an plain swag. —Steffanee Wang

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