Just over a year after his last album “Changes,” Justin Bieber released his sixth studio album “Justice” — a 16-track record including previously released singles “Holy,” “Lonely” and “Anyone”― on March 19, 2021. The album went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts and Official U.K. Albums chart, with its fifth single “Peaches” becoming the fastest song to rise to No. 1 on the U.K. Albums chart. Bieber’s sixth studio album moves away from the R&B of “Changes,” settling somewhere in the genre of pop. Hints of R&B still make their way onto the record in tracks like “Die For You” (ft. Dominic Fike). Similar to past albums, “Justice” includes several collaborators — most notably Khalid, Chance the Rapper and Daniel Caesar. 

Perhaps the most controversial element surrounding the release of Bieber’s new record was the use of excerpts from two of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches, with the opening track of the album including words from King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and track seven, titled “MLK Interlude,” including 1:44 of King’s 1967 sermon, “But If Not.” Many took to Twitter and other social media platforms to express their confusion and annoyance with Bieber for including King’s words as a seemingly empty gesture, despite the album getting the stamp of approval from King’s daughter Bernice King. 

Listeners were particularly bewildered by the opening track “2 Much,” which begins with the iconic words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” One suspects the track, and perhaps the album as a whole, could be a tribute to the mass social justice movements that have been reinvigorated within the U.S. — and worldwide — in the past year. But as MLK’s voice fades and Bieber takes over to sing about his love and devotion for his wife Hailey Bieber, the use of MLK’s words seem quite perplexing. While one can appreciate the vulnerability of the tracks lyrics, “Eternity with you ain’t long enough,” “don’t wanna close my eyes/I’m scared I’ll miss too much” and “it’s music every time I hear your name,” the parallels drawn between Bieber’s relationship with his wife and MLK’s historically haunting words is confusing and potentially offensive. 

Despite that puzzling addition to the album, there are several standout tracks on the record that are impressive for Bieber, the first being track three, “As I Am” featuring Khalid. The track starts out with gentle piano and vocals that transform into a pop fueled, full-voiced chorus in which Bieber belts, “Take me as I am/I will do the best I can/say I’m not going anywhere,” with vocals reminiscent of the early days of his pop superstardom. Starting at the pre-chorus and continuing through the end of the song, Khalid and Bieber’s vocals blend beautifully, creating an enjoyable song that leaves you wanting more. 

While the next seven tracks don’t deliver the same punch as “As I Am,” there are songs like “Holy” — a large choral number where Bieber is accompanied by Chance the Rapper — where you get pulled back into the album. These in-between tracks allow the general theme of the album to take shape: Bieber is so in love with the woman he married that he isn’t sure how he would get through life without her. He admits that he isn’t easy to deal with all the time, he appears to apologize and admit to his past mistakes and he shows his gratitude for Hailey Bieber’s love for him. 

While these middle tracks edge close to being overly generic and threaten to lose the interest of the listener, the eleventh track, “Ghost,” is the supernatural being that pulls the listener back into the album. The pop-synth beat of the intro fades into the gentle strum of an acoustic guitar at the chorus: “If I can’t be close to you/I’ll settle for the ghost of you/I miss you more than life.” Bieber could be singing about the end of a relationship or the loss of someone close to him; either way, the audience is sure to relate to this song. With a length of just 2:30, the song closes with one wanting more and wishing that Bieber had included more raw, open songs on the record. 

Perhaps the biggest song off the album is track 12, “Peaches,” featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon, which has grabbed the attention of both fans and casual listeners with its pop lyrics and melody. It’s hard to resist moving along to the catchy chorus: “I got my peaches out in Georgia (Oh, yeah, s—)/I get my weed from California (That’s that s—)/ I took my chick up to the North, yea (Bad-ass b—-)/I get my light right from the source, yeah (Yeah, that’s it).” Bieber put out a music video with the release of this single which flashes between scenes of him in a peach-colored suit taking a luxurious ride in a convertible with Caesar and Giveon, dancing in a low-ceilinged room with neon lights and large lettered signs displaying the track’s name and vibing in a dome shaped room.    

In between “Peaches” and the closing track “Lonely” are “Love You Different,” “Loved By You” and “Anyone” — songs that act more as filler between the bigger tracks and echo Bieber’s never-ending love and appreciation for his wife. 

Closing off the album is “Lonely,” the second single off of “Justice,” a piano-fuelled ballad co-produced by Finneas where Bieber appears to work through and process the life of fame that he was given at such an early age. The music video that accompanied the release of this single shows a young Bieber (played by Jacob Trembley) before a show, decked out in the notorious white and purple getup of his early days, staring into a mirror backstage before going out to an empty venue as Bieber’s vocals play in the background: “Cause I’ve had everything/But no one’s listening/and that’s just f—ing lonely.” This song, especially paired with the video, makes one rethink the way the media treated Bieber in both his rise to fame and the fallout that followed. While Bieber appears to be getting back on his feet these days and certainly lives a life of privilege many of us will never know, he also had to deal with severe public scrutiny from just 16 years old and is clearly still dealing with the effects to this day. 

While not straying too far from his past sound or lyrical inspirations of love and reminiscences on his past mistakes, Bieber has done a good job with “Justice.” Without the controversial decision to include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, perhaps this album would have been received more enthusiastically by the general public. Bieber has most definitely delivered on the pop-fueled songs that he is known best for with some more meaningful verses adding real depth to the album. And the easygoing, enjoyable beat of “Peaches” might just be the perfect distraction to help us through this spring.