Swag 2 – Justin Bieber

Canadian pop phenomenon Justin Bieber released a new album titled Swag 2 on September 5, 2025 including 23 new songs with his rooted r&b pop sound. This is the second part to the first part of the album, Swag, which now makes a total of 44 songs combined. This album was a surprise to fans and listeners due to him posting on social media platforms the morning of September 5 that it would be released that exact night. He did just as he did with Swag on July 11, 2025.

 

The double album idea reminds me and other fans I’ve seen online of his first and second album My World from 2009 and My World 2.0 from 2010. It feels like a full circle moments from the start of his career to now.

 

Justin Bieber is known for his pop hits like “Baby”, “Sorry”, “Anyone”, “Boyfriend”, Mistletoe”, and many more. As a teenage heartthrob, grammy winner, and right now over a decade in his career still being a top 3 most streamed spotify artist, he is very well known for his career in the music industry. As most local audiences know him for his pop music, he actually roots from a love of r&b music. As he got older into his career he released his first full r&b pop rooted album in 2013, Journals, which is one of my favorite albums up to date. He then released Changes in 2020, Swag, and Swag 2 which are also r&b pop rooted albums. You can hear it in those pieces of music that he is passionate about making the music he loves in the style he loves.

 

My top song from the album is “Mother In You”. This track is one of the slower and more chill songs of the album. This song’s story is dedicated to his wife, Hailey Bieber, who gave birth to his first son, Jack Blues Bieber, in August 2024. He sings lyrics that describe how when he looks at his son Jack he sees Hailey in him. He talks about how his son is the world to him and how he resembles him and Hailey as one. I absolutely love this song for its vulnerability, vocals, and lyrics written from pure love and experience.

 

“Speed Demon” is one of the top songs as well. This song is basically Justin calling out his haters. His career has been full of ups, but full of downs that were low for him. Being thrown into the music industry that intensely as a young teenager to where he was selling out Madison Square Garden on his first tour at 16 made him a product of fame. The fame and struggles that he encountered for years because of it was all public and scrutinized. Justin Bieber used this song as a sort of “comeback” to the people who have been on the internet during his 4 year music break who only post about his appearance, post rumors, and try to get him in the headlines in whatever way possible. The success of Swag not only from his fans, called beliebers, but the general public was apparent that people like Justin Bieber and his music. The lyric I feel validates this is, “They try to say I’m out of my mind, but now they’re singing every line”. Throughout the whole song though he is talking about how he’s never been gone, achieving greatness, and moving forward. When I heard this song I was very proud of him acknowledging his success and worth.

 

Another stand out song for me was “Petting Zoo”. This song is very mellow yet passionate. I would compare this song to his 2012 Believe deluxe track “Love Me Like You Do”, “Change Me” from his 2013 album Journals, and “ETA” from his 2020 album Changes. I love the overall vibe that this song brings because it is relaxed but so good that I get hype to listen.

 

This album as a whole is perfection to me. As much as Justin Bieber’s music has always spoken to me, his soulful r&b sound vocally and musically is my favorite to hear. The rollercoaster of feeling with the music and messages is what made me keep wanting to listen on. I would recommend this album to anyone of any music taste.