Changes

While Bieber's voice still sounds like that of a mid- to late-teen, singing seems to come more naturally to him, and his falsetto pleas are neither bitter nor entitled, strictly genuine and adult.

Changes is successful in its low-key relaxation – despite the unfortunate lack of penetrating hooks to compensate for the subtle instrumental work – and overall, if you enjoyed Purpose or Justin Bieber’s work in general, it’s going to deliver for the most part.

Where Bieber’s previous albums have often felt engineered almost exclusively for the purpose of stimulating audience response, Changes seems focused instead on the tenderness and comfort of his newlywed bubble.

It just feels subdued and unassuming, which are curious things for mainstream pop to be. It’s a tentative, rather than all-guns-blazing, return, with a by-any-means-necessary bubblegum single dutifully tacked on to throw his record label a bone.

An album that feels like a purely selfish endeavour on Bieber’s part. After years of people-pleasing, perhaps that’s its biggest success.

Bieber hardly reveals anything about his tastes, his real mistakes or his personality.

Changes ... is ultimately a transitional record that finds Bieber navigating how to reconcile adulthood with pop stardom—and discovering that, at least in his case, this merger is a tricky one.

The moments of marital romance throughout Changes are washed out by this strange concatenation of thirst and codependency, coupled with a strange dispassion in Bieber’s tone and words.

The main problem with ‘Changes’ is that it isn’t exciting or dynamic and suffers from dragging in places.

Changes does not actually change a great deal in terms of the lyrical depth and sound.

The pop star returns with a grown-man, R&B album about domestic love that has all the glow and eroticism of an airport terminal.

Bieber's limp comeback results in a collection of loved-up songs lacking innovation or substance.

As pop itself becomes more genre-blurred and undefinable with every passing year, though, this long-undefinable pop star sounds more like he’s floating aimlessly through shallow waters.

This isn’t so much an album that would rile you to the point of turning it off. Rather, it washes over you, with its mostly average beats and seemingly random cluster of guest features.