You know, for an album called Changes,
Justin Bieber and his production team seem wholly unwilling to commit to any sort
of change from his pre-established style. Hi, and welcome back to me talking about
whatever I want. Today, I want to talk about Justin Bieber's new album and why it's bad
and how I don't like it. And how, honestly, it kind of represents a larger issue that I
think, deep down, I've always had with Justin Bieber. But first, of course, I'd like to do
my comment shout-out from our last video. This comment shout-out goes to Trash Artist who
says, "Haven't even watched the video yet, but I already agree." Honestly, that's the
mindset I like to see. And I'm sure that's the exact mindset that every Justin Bieber stan who
clicked into this video is going to watch it with. Now, the main reason I wanted to talk about his
new album Changes is because, let's be honest, Justin Bieber forced this album on us.
You've already watched all the videos about Yummy and how much of a mess that was.
In fact, my very first video on this channel was just me ranting about Yummy and how much
I disliked not only the song, but how Justin Bieber was promoting it. And at the end of
that song, I made a very specific prediction. If Yummy is this bad and he's pushing it so
hard, it's safe to assume this is the best he has to offer. This album is going to be trash,
so, don't worry, I will be talking about it. So, I don't want to say I told you so, but ...
How about you just watch and find out. Also, can we talk about how clear my audio is and
how clear this picture is? I got this new set up just for y'all because, let's be honest, it's
time. Anyway, Justin Bieber, changes, 17 tracks, multiple features. Let's go.
(singing) All right. Track one is called All
Around Me, and I have to be honest, that was a beautiful vocal performance by Justin
Bieber. No sarcasm, no jokes. It actually reminds me of Ariana Grande's song raindrops (an angel
cried). It serves the same function. It's kind of like an introduction to Ariana Grande's vocals
that are going to be on her album Sweetener. (singing).
Sadly, the album was still trash, but I blame Pharrell for that one. But yeah,
this song does the same for Justin. It kind of introduces his new and improved vocals, I'd almost
say. He sounds very clean and polished and clear. (singing).
I actually think the song itself is pretty. It has a lot of really nice
sentiments. Like, he says, "From my home to the road, I'll make sure you're comfortable. I'll make
sure we're comfortable. Our love's unconditional." That's pretty and it actually has a really
catchy delivery. He's kind of like (singing). (singing).
It really got stuck in my head the moment I heard it, but I'm not even mad. I like
it. Besides the very satisfying vocal delivery, there's a lot of reverb on the tracks and slight
reverb on his vocals. So, on the tracks, we get stuff like this ... and on his vocals, it's just
a bit more like this. Honestly, it creates this very airy, floaty, ethereal vibe, and it works.
Justin's performance was by far the highlight of this track, though. He's going in and out
of falsetto effortlessly. What surprised me, though, was that he actually
experiments with some lower tones, which we don't typically hear from Justin Bieber.
Towards the end, he actually goes really low. (singing)
I was really surprised not only to hear that in the first place, but just to how
good it sounds. It's like more of a mature sound. But yeah, it has a very glossy, acoustic sound
things to the strings all throughout the track. The structure of the song is kind of aimless.
It sounds slightly like stream of consciousness, kind of like Justin's trying to figure it out,
which works. Overall, just great song. Very fitting for an intro, and it made me excited to
hear the rest, and there's a baby at the end. Honestly, why not?
(singing). All right. Here we have the song, Habitual,
and it's terrible. So disappointing. How are you going to follow up such a good song with
Habitual? First of all, it's on this really boring trap beat. And look, I'm not one of those people
who's like, "This song has a trap beat. It's the worst thing this artist has ever put out in their
entire life." No. I typically tend to like trap instrumentals, but this one is just boring. It's
so clean, so pristine. The synth is really nice, actually. This kind of dun, dun, dun, dun,
but it's throughout the entire track. It's so repetitive. It's really sad to hear
such a song that remains stylistically identical throughout the whole thing after such
an experimental sound on the first track. Also, the lyrics were so unremarkable that I don't
remember them, and I just listened to it. (singing)
All right, next up, we have Come Around Me, which that title is disgusting. I hated saying
that just now. When I first heard it, my mind went to a place and I was like, "No, that can't be it."
But then you listen to the lyrics and you realize, "Oh yeah, no, he means exactly what it sounds
like." Also, it's called Come Around Me, but the first title is called All Around Me,
so like, why do you have All Around Me and Come Around Me on the same album? That's just weird.
The lyrics on this track, besides just the title, are so awkward. There's this one part where he's
like, "Next thing I know you're on top of me. Okay with this, call that a win-win." Is this a Wattpad
story? Are you in high school? Also, the beat of the song is identical to the previous track.
(singing) Now, I did think there was some nice word play at
the end where he's kind of like, "Expeditiously, aggressively."
(singing). Shout-out to using the word expeditiously
in the song and not having it sound pretentious. I actually really like that. And
here's the thing, listen to how boring this instrumental is ... But then listen to what
they do with the instrumental at the end. That was so much more soulful and
pretty. Why didn't you ... Next. (singing).
Intentions by Quavo is bad. I don't personally think it's a
good song. I don't like it. Right off the bat, it's stylistically very similar to Yummy, which is
automatically a problem. And also, the lyrics to the song are just 100% filler lyrics. If you read
them, you're not going to think Justin Bieber's singing this, anybody could have sang this. It's
much more reminiscent of something you'd find from a random SoundCloud rapper than Justin Bieber.
Here on this track, we have the first feature on the album from Quavo who is boring on this track.
Then again, I'm quite biased because I always find him boring. But here in particular, it's just he
didn't need to be. Also, his introductory ad-libs were so bad. He's like ...
(singing). What kind of ad-lib is asset? Also, It's just
weird, but the initial flow Quavo leads into with this feature, he has this kind of trailing-off
flow. He's like ... and I couldn't help but think of Bobby Burns' verse on Ugly, actually.
(singing). (singing).
I'm just saying, I doubt Bobby Burns is at the top of Quavo's inspiration list,
or anyone's inspiration list for that matter, but they really did sound similar to me. I just
thought that was funny. But yeah, boring track, unnecessary feature. Next.
(singing). What is there to say about the song that hasn't
been said already? It's extremely repetitive. It barely has any lyrics. They say yummy entirely
too often. The beat is inextinguishable from the first two songs. And here's the issue, my initial
listens to Yummy when it came out before the album was that, "Well, hey, at least the beat is nice."
But now, hearing how the beat is nice but also identical to the previous, what, three songs now?
With the lack of interest I now have in the beat, the song truly has no redeeming qualities.
Also, I just have to point out I hate the part where he says, "I'm elated that you
are my lady." That's just a bad line. (singing)
Here, we have the song, Available. The instrumental to the song is really cool. It's so
joyful. It's kind of like that bah, bah, bah. It reminds me of classic promotional music, actually.
Also, Justin Bieber hits these weird high notes later into the song. He's like, (singing).
(singing). It sounds stupid, but in a good way. I
laughed when I heard it, but I enjoyed it. I didn't think he sounded bad. I like that
he was experimenting with a more fun delivery. So yeah, as much as I loved his vocals and
the instrumental, my guy, we need to talk about those lyrics. This song is so weirdly
desperate. Like, sure, if you listen to it in context with the lyrics and all that, it just
sounds like your typical radio R&B pop song. But if you just look at the lyrics by themselves,
holy crap. "I get frustrated when you're busy. Lately, that's been more than often, baby. What is
this? It's like, do you even miss me feeling less than priority. You got me convinced that I'm the
only one tripping in my head. Because in reality, you live in my bed. I'm supposed to hold on
to everything you said. Yes or no question, don't leave it unread. Are you available? Are you
available now? Oh, here I am. You available? Just tell me yeah, because for you, I am. You know I
am. Don't mean to sound desperate, but you made it like this. Say I'm number one on your to-do
list. Are you available like I'm available?" Like, I'm calling the police.
(singing) Forever featuring Post Malone and Clever.
Heh, rhyme. Boring beat once again. And, by the way, it sounds like he ran out of lyrics
through the chorus. He's like, (singing). (singing)
You know you can sing words during that part and the song would still work, right? As for post
Malone's feature, for some reason he's drowning in like even war auto tune than usual. Like, I mean,
I'm used to hearing him just slathered and auto tune, but for some reason, towards the end of his
verse, he actually sounded like a literal robot. (singing).
It's weird because I like post Malone, I liked that other tune sound, but that didn't sound
good to me. That just sounded like too, too much. Next on the song was the verse from Clever. I
must say, this feature in this song is actually my first time ever, even hearing of this artist.
I do not know who clever was. I don't like them, though. Obviously I would have to go listen to
his real music before I make a serious judgment. But my snap judgment is that he sounds awful.
He sounds like a goat. Not like the greatest of all time. No, like, like the animal.
This man said. He said gay. He's a goat. He sounds like that Vine of Crish kind of
mimicking how indie girl singer sounds. Welcome to my kitchen we
have bananas and avacados. (singing).
It was not a pleasant listening experience, and overall it was just very forgettable.
Except for Clever. I'm never going to forget his performance because I spent the entire time just
laughing at how much he sounds like an indie goat. (singing).
Next, we have Running Over featuring Lil Dicky. The instrumental on this track is perfect.
It is perfection. It's one of the best beats I've heard this year. It has this running energy
and it's very video gaming. Like, listen to it. Also, when that bass kicks in.
(singing). It be like boom. Boom, boom, boom.
Yeah. Also, they bring in this like organic distorted guitar kind
of sound at about a minute in. (singing)..
It's kind of like wow, wow, wow. It sounds really cool. It's super cool. There's also
this part where instead of stopping the beat, they do this four count thing very reminiscent
of something you'd find at the beginning of a Pharrell. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb.
(singing). It's cool. That being said, the song is
ruined because a Lil Dicky just sounds terrible. Lil Dicky is not a bad artist, like at
all, not bad, but he's very unique, I would say, in his rambling delivery. So, Lil Dicky works
for Lil Dicky, but he did not work in this Justin Bieber track. His lyrics were very awkward and
ill fitting. Like, ugh. Some of the lyrics that he spat were just like ... Ooh, take those back.
(singing). No. Why?
(singing). A Language. This beat was so polished, and
Justin was so by the book, which of course is both good and bad. Lil Dicky sounded loss,
like this song was a place and Lil Dick was just like trying to find Justin. And I don't think
he found him at any point during this track. (singing).
Take It Out On Me. This song is wonky. It's wonky to the point of sounding borderline off key.
(singing). Now, there is a gospel break about halfway
through the song. That's really nice. (singing). (singing).
That's cool. That sounds good. I'm a sucker for gospel, okay? I blame
Kanye West. The lyrics to the song ain't it, though. He literally says, "I'll be your punching
bag. Hit me with all your might and get it all out until you feel light." My guy, that ain't healthy.
Also, the closing instrument listening to this tracks sound like Tyler, the Creator but bad.
Like they wanted that big bouncing synth, clearly they wanted to sound like Tyler, but
you don't just decide to beat Tyler because you feel like it. You know what I mean? Overall,
I think we're just going to have to move on. (singing).
Second Emotion featuring Travis Scott. Right off the bat, a highlight, highlight, for me for the
song was when Justin Bieber adopts this rap flow? (singing).
(singing). Why does he sound like the City Girls. (singing).
Oh, wait, wait, wait, I can't play that in this video. I will say, though, the instrumental
to this song is really good. I honestly feel like this is what they were trying to do in the last
song. It has that low-fi dead battery, slightly off sound. It's really nice. Listen to it.
Super satisfying. Travis Scott shows up though, you know, of course, we got that (singing).
(singing). It's like he phoned it in so half-heartedly that
his ad-libs were more emotional than his actual verses. His verses were very aimless and short.
It was really obvious that his name was just there so the song would get more strange. Also, Justin
says, "Ooh wee," like twice during the song. And when I tell you that I laughed.
(singing). Like, you can't. You have to either do it all the
way or not at all. He tried to do it halfway and he just sounded like a clown. Also, why is Justin
Bieber doing ad-libs? It sounds like he was trying to sound like Travis. Just have Travis say, "Ooh
wee." He's literally the King of ad-libs. It would have sounded good and not laughable. And so, I
guess it's fitting that with all that clownery, there was like circus music at the end because
they switch out one of the main instrument. Yeah, that's kind of what you deserve. Or maybe
it's what I deserve for giving so much attention to this album.
(singing). Get Me Kehlani. I honestly don't have much to say
about the song because I love it. I think it's really great song. Definitely a highlight. I have
to say, Kehlani and Justin Bieber, they harmonize so well. Like, listen to this.
(singing). (singing).
That's mad pretty. The chorus is awful, though. (singing).
Ha ha ha? Y'all said ha ha ha as lyrics? Bring back that clown music.
(singing). E.T.A. isn't bad, but like, why does this sound
like an Ed Sheeran song? Obviously sounding like an Ed Sheeran reject is not necessarily
bad because Ed Sheeran is talented at both songwriting and singing, but like, no,
this just sounds like an Ed Sheeran reject. It sounds like an Ed Sheeran reject that I
can understand why he rejected it. You know? (singing).
He's even singing like Ed. I guess the E in E.T.A. Stands for
Ed, apparently. Also, the guitar is loud and I don't know why. And I didn't just listen
to it through these Bluetooth headphones, I like listened to it through Sennheiser wired
headphones, and I can confirm that the guitar is just weirdly loud. There's this ...
(singing).. Bro. Ow. Justin does it some really strong
notes at the end, though, that I think sounded really good.
(singing). That was really good. That was nice. Ed
Sheeran has entered the chat, though. (singing).
All right, next up is the title track Changes. First of
all, the chorus makes no sense at all. He's like, "I'm going through changes. I'm going through
changes. Though, I'm going through changes." (singing).
What? Yes, it does. You just said you were going through ... what do you mean it doesn't mean
that you've ... I went through mental gymnastics to try to make this make sense, but then it
dawned on me. That's not my job. Justin Bieber, you need make it make sense. Like, no matter
how I interpreted it, it was stupid. Also, he hits this la di da di da towards the
end and that's just boring and unnecessary. La di da di da.
Like, why are there so many vocal? Whatever, man. Title track, not
at all the strongest track on this album. Next. All right. We have the song Confirmation. Now,
the song actually starts off really cool because he starts singing.
(singing). But then he's like, "Hold on. One more time."
Then they stopped the music and you can kind of hear the reverb fall off.
(singing). That was cool. That was cool. I mean, it was
probably fake, but to my ears, it sounded like real organic studio interaction. It was pretty
neat. Also, in the second half of this song, there's this beautiful synth that they bring
in. That sounds heavenly. Like, listen to this. (singing).
Doesn't that sound like something you would find in like a deadmau5 song?
Also, we finally have some inspiring lyrics on this track. Like, finally, sheesh. This was like
the first time besides the title track that he was singing something and I felt like he meant what he
was singing. He says, "All you ever really want, all you ever really need is at home."
(singing). It sounded like he was singing from his heart. The
weird thing was it felt out of place, though. It makes me sad. Like, all the jokes, and the memes,
and the JB hate aside, it makes me legitimately sad that his sincerity and genuineness in the
song was what fell out of place because of how polished, and fake, and safe the rest of the album
was. What should have been a highlight just felt like a reinforcement of how bad this album is.
(singing). All right, next up we have the song That's
What Love Is. Now, listen here, the chord progression in this song gives me anxiety. And
I know, like I say, a lot of things, like, "Oh, that gave me literally anxiety." No, no, no,
no, no. Like, when I heard the chord change, my fight or flight response got triggered. Listen.
(singing). Why does it go up? It's like ... It almost
sounds like something from a horror movie. And then the random guitar plugs are
jumping out kind of like a jump scare. (singing).
The guitar sounded so discordant. It was weird, honestly. Also, there's like this
single solitary guitar pluck at the end that just pissed me off for no reason.
(singing). Why?
(singing). All right, so last but not least, we have the
song At Least For Now. And, ooh, best song on the album. Hands down, end of story. Pack it up,
go home. This is the best song on the album. Right off the bat, I knew I was going to love it because
the music is kind of folksy and it has like this exciting ... It's cinematic. It sounds like
something that would be in a movie. Like, listen. It's just mad pretty, honestly. Also,
Justin Bieber, this is part towards the end where he gets a bit gravelly
and has a bit of a, dare I say, twang. (singing).
That sounded good. Then towards the end, he almost yodels. Like,
it's not a full yodel, but he almost yodels. (singing).
Honestly, that was really fun and it sounded good. Really just the
best song on the album. He sounds more mature. I like the lyrics. This instrumental fit his singing
style really well. It's almost like it could have been like a new direction. He could have done the
whole album this way. Then like, listen to the instrumental at the end, how they kind of makes
acoustic, organic almost, and electronic sounds. Really, that's something that I don't hear all the
time and it could have been the rest of the album, but I'll take what I can get. I'll take this
song. It's in my playlist. I will be listening to it. A lot.
(singing). Oh yeah, I forgot. That wasn't the last song.
Technically, the last song is this Yummy remix featuring Summer Walker. Honestly, it's boring,
wholly unnecessary. Summer Walker's vocals are weird and she sounds weirdly, you electronic. I
literally don't care. The only part they actually remixed was there's this part in the middle
where Summer first comes on and they change up the music.
(singing). But then it stops ...
(singing). ... and goes right back to the original music.
(singing). It's like, what was the point? But then here's the
thing, that just like the last sound on the album, they actually switch up the whole
instrumental at the end of the song and it sounds so much more soulful and pretty.
That's gorgeous, but you just threw it in at the end because you were too weak to experiment.
And honestly, I feel like it's almost symbolic. This whole album was just them having really
good ideas, but prioritizing safeness over them so none of them actually get fleshed out.
All right, so my final thoughts on the album. I didn't enjoy listening to it, the majority
of it. First of all, the vocable choruses, like the wordless choruses, were far too
much. There was too much, "Yummy yum." "Oh, whoa, whoa," Ha ha ha, "la da da." Like, why?
Justin Bieber's vocal performance, however, for me, was a highlight throughout the entire
album because he just sounded pristine the whole time. And he had his moments where he
really shined through with some interesting things that we've never heard from him before.
With the exception of Kehlani, who sounded like she was really into it, all the features on this
album were useless. Clearly, they were just there because people needed to get paid and streams
needed to be generated. The desperate lyrics were really starting to get to me. I mean, one
of the songs he literally says something like, "Run me over with your love." Then of course,
there's the punching bag lyric. Then there's his complete breakdown on that one song,
Available. Honestly, that's just the version, or rather the vision, of love that he presents
on this album is not one that's fun to listen to. I get that, that's definitely like an
element of love, but I feel like you should at least grow out to that at some point, right?
The whole album was repetitive. It was just all repetitive. The beats were repetitive, even
his lyrics were repetitive. A couple of the songs almost had the same lyrics. It was just,
ooph. I feel like this 17-track album could have easily been cut down to fricking 11, 10.
The other thing that was weird was that Justin Bieber affected this dialect for this album. He
says things like, "You got me low key nervous. I be going through changes. No, I ain't changed.
You will fool with it. Heard you come in before I seent you." Like, why? Is it because it's an
R&B album? Okay, let me not think about that one too hard before I just jump to a conclusion.
It was completely unnecessary, how about that? A lot of the lyrics were just gross because they
were so adult, but Justin, he wasn't really singing them. He's just kind of saying them. It
came off as really detached. Name something less attractive than somebody being completely
detached from what they're saying to you. The production on this album was really good,
though. I know I said that the songs were boring and repetitive, but that doesn't mean they were
bad. A lot of the instrumentals were really cool, just as concepts, not as entire songs. But as I
pointed out, some of these moments really shined, so I almost feel like this album
was more so a win for Pooh Bear, their producer, than it was for Justin.
In conclusion, Justin Bieber, you get a C minus. Like, you pass with this album. Congrats.
You didn't fail. I mean, none of the songs have a poor vocals. None of them have bad beats,
per se. But you didn't try. Or more specifically, you did try, but you didn't let yourself
try. You know, for an album called Changes, Justin Bieber and his production team seem wholly
unwilling to commit to any sort of change from his pre-established style, so sad. But honestly,
I can feel however I want to feel about the album. He probably made several million dollars
just on the opening day, so honestly, who cares?
