★★★½
Pop transformations are nothing new.
Four albums deep at 21, Justin Bieber’s Purpose is his chance to redeem himself before he’s all but forgotten by tweens who’ve all but grown up. Adding his own twist on the zeitgeist, the record brings a mélange of trap, EDM and future R&B without alienating the kids who have stuck around.
The genius of this album is in twisting his already existent parts through a 2015 filter as opposed to giving us the complete Madonna. While Skrillex co-produces five of the 13 tracks, he’s more in a support role than reinventing the wheel, and this record is as much a maturity shift for Sonny Moore as it is for young Biebs, bringing both to new audiences. ‘I’ll Show You’ is a future R&B crossover, while ‘What Do You Mean?’ and ‘Sorry’ were the tracks that got everyone listening in the first place. ‘Company’ brings a Balearic house vibe that’s ripe for some choice remixes, while ‘No Pressure’sounds like it was lifted straight from a Justified-era Timbaland session. Purpose isn’t entirely groundbreaking, but the experimentation and outcome are sincere.
Whatever might be written about his current faux-redemption is irrelevant, when the only redemption that matters for Bieber is musically. Purpose gives it a decent shot.
