Justin Bieber 'Purpose' review

Image: Justin Bieber

It's about time Justin Bieber's teenage heart throb image was thrown aside and his music taken seriously after the release of Purpose.

Over the past year or so, his bad boy demeanour has been well documented in the press: drug fuelled street racing in a Lamborghini and pelting neighbours mansions with eggs primarily allay to that thought. 

His latest release Purpose strings a flaming arrow into the heart of the suggestion that he's on the verge of going off the rails. The early singles: 'Sorry', 'What Do You Mean?' and his link up for 'Where Are U Now?' with Skrillex initialised the early pointers and helped smash the record of having the most singles in the UK top 40 at one time.

This prolificness extends to rest of the album, opener 'Mark My Words' sets the tone with a Weeknd-esque backing vocal sifting through the main joint. Equally, 'Love Yourself' (listen below) marks itself as an exemplary track with its gently plucked strings that accentuate Bieber's modern day answer to Carli Simon's 'You're So Vain'.

Skrillex's part production on the album is the driving force to its openly accessible appeal. Bieber's lyrical formula hasn't changed, but it's slow burning groovers like 'Company' weighed up against soulful piano cuts like on 'Life Is Worth Living' that restricts the source of a Bieber fever vaccination and forges two sides to the coin. 

The record is not short of high profile link ups; after all, according to the press he's been blazing with half of LA. Big Sean remains ever present, Travi$ Scott hooks up with Bieber for 'No Sense', and hip hop royalty Nas spits his lusty pursuit of a girl on 'We Are'.

Whether you like it or not, this release is a pop beacon of our time and there's no denying it. It's already eclipsed The Beatle's 51 year old record of having the most records placed on the Billboard top 100 chart in a single week, and it's showing no signs of slowing down. 

With Purpose, what was once a teenage smooch mediates between the dancefloor and a late night R&B joint, putting the Canadian's foolish antics on hold and gives the Bieber brand some serious grown up appeal.  

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