There’s a little diversion halfway through Justin Bieber’s new album, SWAG II, the expansive 23-track follow-up to his July drop SWAG. Despite Bieber’s teasing that SWAG II was the pink beach house to Swag’s goth beach house, the album is more or less drawing from the same well: Over the course of many mid-tempo R&B-inspired tracks, Bieber articulates that he loves his wife, struggles with fame and his mental health, and he’s nuts about God. The song “DON’T WANNA,” featuring English indie rocker Bakar, is no different, really, in substance, but it sounds different — new and old all at once.
Immediately, “DON’T WANNA” summons Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.” It’s not exactly a rock song, but there is a pop-rock essence to it: a more rhythmically compelling song that doesn’t let Bieber drag out his notes or his feelings. “Don’t wanna give a fuck,” he opens the chorus, punching the last word. Comparisons to Jackson have dogged Bieber since the start of his career given some similarities in their voices and the general boyishness that continues to define the latter. In “DON’T WANNA,” Bieber actually gives into the lightness that often made Jackson so undeniable as a pop star.
Bakar’s presence softens Bieber’s bad attitude and makes the track a little more romantic. “I’ve seen a better life, I hope you don’t get fed up / There’s certain things you can’t buy,” Bakar sings. Both sing toward the same idea: that the thing they don’t wanna is for her to leave. With Bakar, that “she” is in the abstract, but it’s hard to imagine Bieber isn’t singing about his long-suffering wife, Hailey. Most of his Hailey songs can be sorted into long-winded apologies or lusty worship tracks, but this one is almost more of a mission statement. Despite what we see and know of their relationship, he doesn’t want to mess this up. He doesn’t want her to go. “I know what I should be,” he concludes the chorus, hitting “should” the hardest.
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We’re not inclined to think of Bieber in the indie-rock space — he’s not an indie rocker by any means — but having Bakar in the mix opens an interesting door to “What if?” Even his work with Mk.gee and Dijon suggest a range of musicality that we haven’t seen from Bieber before this album cycle. It’s a sound that’s more organic and edgier than some of his smoother ballads. Of all the artists from whom people have demanded experimental rock albums, Bieber never came to mind. A Taylor Swift rock album? Sure. A Beyoncé rock album? Seems inevitable. But Bieber is kind of an obvious pop-rock star in his own regard: He is angry and petulant and wanton. What’s more rock ’n’ roll than that? It’s a whole genre framed around complaining, which has become one of Bieber’s favorite things to do.
Given the trajectory of the rest of the album, it’s not likely that Bieber will keep this style going forward, but it’s a fun change of pace from him. He’s an artist who is always at his best when he’s being a little surprising: The sudden shift to electronic pop in 2015’s Purpose completely reinvented his pop persona to something more mature and self-aware. He was an adult, really and fully. Now that he’s been making “adult” music for a decade, replete with sostenuto melodramas, maybe it’s time for him to ease up. “DON’T WANNA” is a glimpse both forward and back to an artist who used to know how to have a little more fun.
