Cross’ Daily Drip 2/14/20: The Biebs “Changes”
Tonight Cross talks about the brand new Justin Bieber album, “Changes”, and the reactions a few artists/media outlets had towards it. Check below for a few other reactions from some notable media outlets.
Billboard
“Ultimately, the album is at its most satisfying whenever Bieber places its creative catalyst, his marriage to Hailey, front and center. Sure, there are some puppy-love lyrics (“You got the keys to my city!” Bieber exclaims on “Second Emotion”), but the album’s most compelling moments, from the yearning opener “All Around Me” to the crackling Quavo team-up “Intentions,” unabashedly detail the type of fullness that Bieber has found through his romantic partnership.”
Los Angeles Times
“The singer makes yet another cocoon for himself on “Changes,” a low-key set of gentle electro-R&B jams that depicts his relationship with Baldwin as a refuge from the unkind world he’s still not quite ready to reenter. Long on clean-toned guitars and drowsy soul grooves — and many, many words about the love of a good woman — it represents a distinct shift from the throbbing EDM of Bieber’s last album, 2015’s “Purpose.”
The Independent
“This isn’t so much an album that would rile you to the point of turning it off. Rather, it washes over you, with its mostly average beats (“Forever” is a rare exception) and seemingly random cluster of guest features – Post Malone, Travis Scott, the comedian-rapper Lil Dicky … For all Bieber’s talk of change, this album, the way he talks about love – and the fact he feels compelled to make not one, but five jokes about male genitalia at the playback – suggest he hasn’t come all that far since the days of ‘baby, baby, baby, oh.'”
The Guardian
“(‘Changes’) deals largely in low-key, short, floaty paeans to Bieber’s wife, Hailey Baldwin – “it’s a blessing that you’re in my life”, “you make sure I’m comfortable”, “what are our kids going to be like?”, etc – and to his faith. The title track is over almost before it begins, unexpectedly grinding to a halt with a spoken-word section: “People change, circumstances change, but God always stays the same.”
Vice
“…’Changes’ does sound and feel like a polished and cohesive continuation of ‘Journals’ without all the experimental parts, like that song where he finds an alien in his backpack and it turns out to be Lil Wayne. There are plenty of good beats (‘Intentions’ ft. Quavo is one) and his voice is, as always, so delicate you could sell it in a French patisserie – but in the end ‘Changes’ lands like love itself: easy to appreciate, but only significant when it’s happening to you.”
