The star has recast himself as a tender humanitarian, which means a civil rights speech shoehorned into an album of anaemic love songs
Justin Bieber’s sixth studio album comes accompanied by a personal statement. “In a time when there’s so much wrong with this broken planet, we all crave healing – and justice – for humanity,” it says. “This is me doing a small part. My part. I want to continue the conversation of what justice looks like so we can continue to heal.”
You can certainly see why he has done this. We’re living through an era when it’s held to be important that pop music tackles – or at least is seen to be tackling – serious issues. It’s not unlike that point in the 80s when even Duran Duran felt obliged to mention nuclear war, lest anyone think that they weren’t agonising over the prospect of mutually assured destruction when not cavorting with models on yachts.
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