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Album: Justin Bieber - 'Purpose'
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 2,301
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I'll Show You, No Pressure, The Feeling, Sorry and Been You are all 10/10 
Only low points on the album for me are Love Yourself and Life Is Worth Living and they're not even that bad, just a lil boring.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
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Member Since: 8/31/2013
Posts: 1,570
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No pressure  r&b bieber slay
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
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Quote:
Originally posted by Αnt
The chorus of "Love Yourself" sounds like Ed Sheeran. It's cute though.
EDIT: No wonder |
He literally sings with Justin 
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Member Since: 8/24/2008
Posts: 40,932
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Ugh this album Is perfect
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
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My first thoughts btw:
With the greatest battle for the #1 album in our lifetimes coming up between Justin Bieber’s Purpose and ⅘ One Direction’s Made in the AM, I decided to review what I consider the greater of the two. So great, in fact, that I believe that it is the best pop album of the year alongside Years & Years’ Communion. Justin Bieber may not be an artist whom you necessarily like, but I hope to change at least some of that throughout this review.
Mark My Words - great hookless ballad about his relationship with Selena. The production is simple and features Justin’s angelic vocals over samples of his voice and a piano. As an album opener it sets the tone that the album is about mistakes in his life that lead to his public perception and his loss of Selena Gomez. The coda to the track features beautiful vocals and a fiddle. While the voice sample in the background isn’t perfectly on key, I feel like it’s done that way on purpose to show the imperfection of Justin as a man.
I’ll Show You - Hands down the best Skrillex-produced ballad. Anyone who knows Skrillex’s “Long Drive” and “Summit” will be surprised to hear this claim - yet it’s true. Bieber’s lyrics are haunting, especially coming from someone practically our age. The video is beautiful set in Iceland. His vocals and the layers he and Skrillex use make the song carry emotion beyond expected. His lyrics… just gosh. Amazing. 10/10 track. “don’t forget that I’m human, don’t forget that I’m real” “act like you know me, but you never will” He shows us HIM as a person in this song.
What Do You Mean? - The island club banger about his relationship with Selena. Not the most complex track, yet gets his relationship across while making you want to dance and cry at the same time. He took a note from Madonna’s “Hung Up” that clocks add an unparalleled element of hope and unfulfilled expectation. “you want to make a point but you keep preaching” is an amazing line. Everything in Justin’s life has been confusing since he was 15 and thrust into a world that watched and judged every action he made.
Sorry - If you wanted the defining pop track of 2015 - look no further than “Sorry.” It fully embraces pop music unlike the Kygo-tinged “What Do You Mean” and its only real competition comes from Taylor’s “Blank Space” in terms of pure pop greatness. The pitched “oh” hook is a signature aspect of electronic trap music where Skrillex has spent the past year. The small things make the song. The screams in the middle of the verses signifying of Justin’s hectic life. The whisper-sung vocals at the end of each verse add a sonic aspect, one calm and engaging. Then when we get into the lyrics we can realize that sure there are many parts that are simplified for pop radio, but still manages to get the album’s central purpose across: that it’s too late to say he’s sorry for what he’s done, but he’ll try anyways.
Love Yourself - As a song co-written with Ed Sheeran, it truly sounds like a cover of an Ed song. The piece features only Justin and a guitar for the majority of the track. It even sounds like Ed is doing the background vocals during the chorus. It’s a sweet track. Notable is the hook which features a pitched vocal of either Ed or Bieber and a sweet saxophone solo any jazz fan will appreciate.
Company - Company is a likely single in the future. It features funky bassline with modern EDM synthesizers - basically taking notes from Taylor Swift’s 1989. While the lyrics are probably among the most basic on the album, Justin’s voice brings the song to new heights and the drop after the chorus is top-notch. A drop that most DJs wish they could make. It soars high.
No Pressure - at first this song sounds like “As Long as You Love Me” 2.0, but then the vocals kick in and it turns into a Journals-esque ballad. Letting the lyrics take the forefront, Justin creates a glorious soundscape for his heart to spill out with his aforementioned smooth vocals. The chorus though is a Gotye level of hypnotic in its odd execution of “you ain’t gotta make your mind up” repeated over and over again. By the time the bridge hits, the instrumental begins to work with the lyrics. Big Sean’s verse - while a highlight on “As Long as You Love Me” two years ago, is now more of an afterthought taking up space for Justin to come in with a heightened final chorus with new pad synths. Only thing keeping the song from being perfect is the random inclusion of Sean. Then again, without him the song might sound too monotonous where he comes in and spices things up.
No Sense - Trap music can be recognized from the first two seconds. And two seconds in indeed one knows that this is a trap song along the lines of Fetty Wap and Future - just without autotune as Justin has great vocals already. It starts out pretty basic and sounding like a Journals leftover until the chorus hits and Justin brings the whole thing home. Once Travi$ Scott enters the song, though, it becomes an anthem like “Antidote” or “Piss On Your Grave” with his aggressive vocals perfectly attuned to the essence of trap. His autotuned vocals and melodic genius are exactly what this song was missing for the first two minutes. Justin has pretty vocals, but not a great sense of melody. This isn’t apparent in the album at all until Travi$ comes in and drops the best verse of the album.
The Feeling (ft. Halsey) - This song feels like it’s from Journals just with electronic instruments instead of real ones and a ridiculous chorus that doesn’t fit. It’s the only song on the album that didn’t grab me on first listen. Halsey’s part could have been done more naturally and smoother if it were done by Justin himself. If Justin had done the chorus with his natural voice rather than the overcompressed and autotuned vocals of Halsey it could have been a standout track from the album as the chorus has a great melody and great potential. It’s interesting to note that on the previous track we had one of the most expert uses of autotune usage since “Buy U A Drank” and on this track we get an example of exactly what NOT to do with it. Still a great track from the melodies and stellar lyrics, but is missing the natural passion that needs to be there in the chorus. It needs emotion, especially with a refrain going “am I in love with you?” and instead it sounds heartless as Siri.
Life Is Worth Living - It’s a simple song. A simple ballad. It’s one that Justin needed to have to let his lyricism shine without fancy production (which is still here, just very minimalistic. Probably due to the Rick Rubin executive production). It’s a song that finds its perfect home here near the end of the album as it shows how for Justin - even after a rough few years - “life is worth living again.”
Where Are U Now - It’s nearly a year old and still sounds fresh. It’s the track that was lauded by nearly every DJ as one of the best songs of the year (except deadmau5, but he hates pop music so we can ignore him). The lyrics and sweet vocals of Justin are what brought him back from being among the most despised people to one that was somewhat likable again. It was with this song that he ditched his teen idol persona and began to appeal to everyone. It was with this song that he and Skrillex began a friendship that created some of the most standout moments on this album and introduced Skrillex to his first true hit after years of “underground” success. It was with this song that people really began to realize that Bieber was only human. And a damn talented one at that. When he sings the final line, “I need you the most,” he isn’t talking to Selena, he isn’t talking to the media, he isn’t talking to Usher or Scooter, he’s talking to himself. He needs to love himself after years of being told that he was a public embarrassment and prime example of the failure of child stardom.
Children - This is the only Skrillex song on the album that actually feels like the old dubstep Skrillex before he did trap. The song lyrically is about the children fighting for a world they’d be proud to live in and how people like Justin are the role models who need to make a difference. It’s cheesy and generic lyrically, but is a nice return to the Skrillex sound that people loved and a good message to end the album on before the official closer. It combines everything else production-wise in the album and brings it together in a final, maximalistic production to contrast the minimalism found everywhere else (except “Sorry.”)
Purpose - Now I’m not religious so I’m probably not the best person to be talking about this track. But it’s basically Bieber talking about God then ending the album on a monologue talking about how this album was his redemption, his version of Kanye’s My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy. It’s just a closer to sum up what the album and these past few years meant to him. Not my cup of tea due to the religious aspect, but probably the exact piano-led closer most Christians would want from him.
Now there are a TON of bonus tracks to this album, but they don’t really fit with the mood and message of this album. “Been You” is a fun 2009-Gaga-esque track. “Get Used To Me” sounds like a leftover from his last album Believe. “We Are” is a cool leftover from Journals that features some great rapping from Nas. “Trust,” “All In It,” and “Hit The Ground” all follow in these footsteps of good songs that either didn’t fit with the rest of the album or were leftovers from Believe or Journals.
The one bonus track that truly wows is “The Most.” It’s the only track actually produced by the album’s executive Rick Rubin and his minimalistic, melodic touch is seen very clearly (in case you didn’t know, Rick Rubin also executively produced Kanye’s Yeezus and Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight among many other albums). “The Most” is the demo for “Where Are U Now” and, as the last bonus track, ends the album with how this year began for Bieber. “Where Are U Now” was the first thing we heard from Bieber this era, and he makes sure that “The Most” is the last thing we hear.
The album comes full circle from Skrillex and MdL’s beautiful electropop production to the minimalistic demo that started this entire album. The message is heard loud and clear even beyond what we first heard on “Where Are U Now.” It’s clear that Justin is back. He’s done apologizing. And he’s come a long way from My World to finding his true Purpose.
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Member Since: 8/31/2013
Posts: 1,570
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Omg the feeling ..... 
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Member Since: 1/7/2014
Posts: 2,327
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Been You sounds single material
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 19,483
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Ugh, iTunes is taking forever to download Purpose.
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Member Since: 11/8/2011
Posts: 31,648
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Hit the Ground should've been on the standard.
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Member Since: 11/9/2011
Posts: 17,831
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Omg wtf THE FEELING
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Member Since: 8/30/2012
Posts: 24,762
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I'm confused, which is the cover.
  
Like, which is the deluxe, standard etc? I have the white one as the standard and the blue as the deluxe.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sharie
It's here omg lemme get high and listen to it
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My first listen to the album was high
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Member Since: 8/31/2013
Posts: 1,570
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Skipped life is worth living y'all were right so basic
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Member Since: 8/31/2013
Posts: 1,570
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Quote:
Originally posted by LoveLiveMusic
I'm confused, which is the cover.
Like, which is the deluxe, standard etc? I have the white one as the standard and the blue as the deluxe. |
The black one i think
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sharie
Been You sounds single material
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YES
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
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Quote:
Originally posted by Αnt
Hit the Ground should've been on the standard.
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Too similar to WDYM
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Member Since: 1/7/2014
Posts: 2,327
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Where can I hear "The Most"
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 5,149
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sharie
Been You sounds single material
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Yes, it makes me so happy
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 2,301
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1. Purpose (Deluxe)
10. Purpose
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