July 11, 2025 • 7 mins
The release coming as a surprise to his fans, Swag is the seventh studio album of Justin Bieber – his first release in four years.
With a range of guest appearances, the album returns to Bieber’s favoured R&B sounds after his backslide into generic pop with 2021’s Justice.
Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the new album.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at B.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I Love you, If I love you, Bebe will we are.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Love you?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
He's on give You Sure.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
This is Yukon. That's one of the songs from Swag,
the freshly released album from Justin Bieber, his seventh album
released overnight. That had been rumored it was coming for
some time, but Justin just dropped it, which meant Estelle Clifford,
our music reviewer, had to drop everything she was doing
so she could go and listen to the Beabes. Hey,
(01:02):
good to see.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You, Hello, Hi Big Big Friday night at Mine at night,
Hello Swag? What are you all about? And So this
song here has caused a little bit of mystery around
who sings it?
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Yeah? Is that him?
Speaker 5 (01:18):
So well, lots of rumor around it being Scissor or
someone like that. There's nothing in the credits that suggests so.
So yes, this is the consensus. This is the Bebes,
this is him, Yeah, yeah yeah. And then he does
the backing vocals in his normal voice that you recognize
and I must have. When I've listened to the song
a couple of times, I'm like, it's definitely the way
(01:38):
he sings, and I think that's kind of clever, Like
I like that he's sort of disguised himself but doing
something a little bit different. Yeah, And that's kind of
how the whole album sort of is. There's these moments
that are quite it's quite intimate in regards to how
it's been recorded, and it's not necessarily big and showy,
(02:00):
like a lot of the vocals have that more closer
you sort of lean into it a little bit more.
Like I feel like the whole album is like that.
I mean, there's lots of rumors around him having jam
sessions and all that kind of stuff leading into writing
new music, and he's pretty much just put it on
the album, I think as it has been, Like there's
beautiful production and beautiful musicality, but again, I think it's
(02:21):
just kind of almost on the fly, on the spot
and then added some things to it. There's actually also
a couple of songs on here, like twenty one songs
on the album, but a couple of those like voice memos, right, interesting,
so one is a yeah, one is a voice memo
jam session. So I would kind of love to see
the behind the scenes footage of how they put that together.
And another one is legit just him and his guitar,
(02:44):
Zoomer House, it's called and it's like a minute twenty
of just like you almost feel like you're snooping a
little bit, like you're seeing him maybe talking or singing
to his kid. You know, like he's kind of got
that sort of vibe about it, like a dude and
his guitar just sounding out something that he kind of likes.
And again so you're like, oh, okay, now where in
this really intimate should we be listening to this or not?
(03:06):
And is it a full song or not? Like it
just kind of ends there you go, that's it was
holding the guitar for a minute twenty and now I'm
done with it, you know, like in just moving through,
I think that he's definitely decided to take control of
his narrative, which because there's always stories and gossip around
these kind of especially when they're sort of kept to
themselves for a few years, and then people being like,
(03:27):
are we worried about him? He's acting all strange? I reckon,
he's just a dude who's well tired because he's got
a baby, and he's also trying to write some new
music and then the peppo are always in his face,
but now always.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
I mean I don't I don't envy his life at all.
I mean, you know he's yeah, I mean some people
say he's got a pretty good life. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
But I mean there was there's been a lot of
speculation right about, like if he's in a good place
and that kind of.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Thing, and not when the pepperazzs are in his face.
There's actually a song on the album called Butterflies. We've
got a little sample here because it does sample one
of his confrontations he had only about a month or
so ago. If you want to listen to butterflies.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Money money, money, money, money, money, money, money.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
I mean I kind of find it funny that's something
that really only happened about a month ago. He's already
sampled and put into the start of Interesting. If it's
going to be a global speculation, then why not just
why not just add it to your own album and
that means it lives forever, which I think is kind
of interesting that he's decided to then put it into
a song. But it's a murky track too, Like it's
(04:43):
got this really heavy bass drum line, which I guess
the experience of having someone constantly outside your window or
every time you try and hop in a car or something,
and your face is a murky kind of dark s
a place to be. But then singing about butterflies, which
is like a beautiful, letting go flyaway kind of thing.
Interesting kind of contrast.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You're right, yeah, yeah, and then.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
And yeah, this is this album. I mean, I like
that he's kind of done the Beyonce thing and just gone, oh, well,
here's the album. Then yeah, but again, I think that's
part of him having control of his own narrative, and
there is some real I feel like it's a very
nineties sounding album, some synth and pop and R and
B that I'm really digging. I think the collabs he's
done are really great, great vocalists. It's like I've said,
(05:31):
some of the some of the tracks are actually just
him having chats about his life with Drewski, who's like
a comedian actor, social media dude. Yes, sort of talking
through where his headspace is at, and then just actually
leaving there on the album, I think like some interesting
choices to say this is where I'm at, this is
where I'm moving forward. Definitely loves his wife, definitely loves
(05:53):
his kid, and I guess just saying I'm human and
I'm trying to do the best I can and move
forward with that. Yeah, nothing too deep in some of
the lyrics, though, very repetitive like they he just says
things over and over again and isn't going too deep
about it or anything, but I think still him having control.
Daisy's is one of my favorite tracks, which we're going
to play a little bit later. I reckon this could
(06:14):
be the big radio play. It's quite poppy. It's got
that real cool lo fi guitar riff intro that then
carries on through the rest of the tune. His vocals
are quite four front, which I think has always worked
for him in those big pop songs that have then
become kind of radio hits.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Yeah, and sort of a little bit of a hazy,
kind of oh my summary sort of sound to it
as well, which I think will actually do quite well.
But it's actually one that's just really stood out to me.
So yeah, when I have a lot of listen to
that as well.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Okay, what'd you give it?
Speaker 5 (06:44):
It's an eight out of ten for me, very good.
I'm not sure if I'm into the random chat stuff,
but you know, it's there and it's got a post.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I don't like that.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yeah, it does have a purpose. I mean, yeah, I
don't know. I don't like when they I don't know
when Kanya did it either. I don't like, you know,
I just I don't like.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
There's little moments of that where it does remind me
of that, And maybe that's why I've decided to give
it that because it's also about Drew Skis saying, oh
you're you're sounding black and like just really trying to
talk up what it is he's trying to do right,
And I don't know if it's forced or if it's
actually genuine, like I can't quite tell, but anyway, it's there.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Well, thank you for doing the tough stuff for us
last night last week caller as soon as it as
soon as it dropped. So yeah, eight out of ten
for swag. We'll have a bit more of a listen.
We'll pick out Daisy's your favorite one there, Estelle, so
we can play that in a few minutes. The Stelee
Clifford is our music reviewer.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News talks' b from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at B.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I Love you, If I love you, Bebe will we are.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Love you?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
He's on give You Sure.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
This is Yukon. That's one of the songs from Swag,
the freshly released album from Justin Bieber, his seventh album
released overnight. That had been rumored it was coming for
some time, but Justin just dropped it, which meant Estelle Clifford,
our music reviewer, had to drop everything she was doing
so she could go and listen to the Beabes. Hey,
(01:02):
good to see.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You, Hello, Hi Big Big Friday night at Mine at night,
Hello Swag? What are you all about? And So this
song here has caused a little bit of mystery around
who sings it?
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Yeah? Is that him?
Speaker 5 (01:18):
So well, lots of rumor around it being Scissor or
someone like that. There's nothing in the credits that suggests so.
So yes, this is the consensus. This is the Bebes,
this is him, Yeah, yeah yeah. And then he does
the backing vocals in his normal voice that you recognize
and I must have. When I've listened to the song
a couple of times, I'm like, it's definitely the way
(01:38):
he sings, and I think that's kind of clever, Like
I like that he's sort of disguised himself but doing
something a little bit different. Yeah, And that's kind of
how the whole album sort of is. There's these moments
that are quite it's quite intimate in regards to how
it's been recorded, and it's not necessarily big and showy,
(02:00):
like a lot of the vocals have that more closer
you sort of lean into it a little bit more.
Like I feel like the whole album is like that.
I mean, there's lots of rumors around him having jam
sessions and all that kind of stuff leading into writing
new music, and he's pretty much just put it on
the album, I think as it has been, Like there's
beautiful production and beautiful musicality, but again, I think it's
(02:21):
just kind of almost on the fly, on the spot
and then added some things to it. There's actually also
a couple of songs on here, like twenty one songs
on the album, but a couple of those like voice memos, right, interesting,
so one is a yeah, one is a voice memo
jam session. So I would kind of love to see
the behind the scenes footage of how they put that together.
And another one is legit just him and his guitar,
(02:44):
Zoomer House, it's called and it's like a minute twenty
of just like you almost feel like you're snooping a
little bit, like you're seeing him maybe talking or singing
to his kid. You know, like he's kind of got
that sort of vibe about it, like a dude and
his guitar just sounding out something that he kind of likes.
And again so you're like, oh, okay, now where in
this really intimate should we be listening to this or not?
(03:06):
And is it a full song or not? Like it
just kind of ends there you go, that's it was
holding the guitar for a minute twenty and now I'm
done with it, you know, like in just moving through,
I think that he's definitely decided to take control of
his narrative, which because there's always stories and gossip around
these kind of especially when they're sort of kept to
themselves for a few years, and then people being like,
(03:27):
are we worried about him? He's acting all strange? I reckon,
he's just a dude who's well tired because he's got
a baby, and he's also trying to write some new
music and then the peppo are always in his face,
but now always.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
I mean I don't I don't envy his life at all.
I mean, you know he's yeah, I mean some people
say he's got a pretty good life. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
But I mean there was there's been a lot of
speculation right about, like if he's in a good place
and that kind of.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Thing, and not when the pepperazzs are in his face.
There's actually a song on the album called Butterflies. We've
got a little sample here because it does sample one
of his confrontations he had only about a month or
so ago. If you want to listen to butterflies.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Money money, money, money, money, money, money, money.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
I mean I kind of find it funny that's something
that really only happened about a month ago. He's already
sampled and put into the start of Interesting. If it's
going to be a global speculation, then why not just
why not just add it to your own album and
that means it lives forever, which I think is kind
of interesting that he's decided to then put it into
a song. But it's a murky track too, Like it's
(04:43):
got this really heavy bass drum line, which I guess
the experience of having someone constantly outside your window or
every time you try and hop in a car or something,
and your face is a murky kind of dark s
a place to be. But then singing about butterflies, which
is like a beautiful, letting go flyaway kind of thing.
Interesting kind of contrast.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You're right, yeah, yeah, and then.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
And yeah, this is this album. I mean, I like
that he's kind of done the Beyonce thing and just gone, oh, well,
here's the album. Then yeah, but again, I think that's
part of him having control of his own narrative, and
there is some real I feel like it's a very
nineties sounding album, some synth and pop and R and
B that I'm really digging. I think the collabs he's
done are really great, great vocalists. It's like I've said,
(05:31):
some of the some of the tracks are actually just
him having chats about his life with Drewski, who's like
a comedian actor, social media dude. Yes, sort of talking
through where his headspace is at, and then just actually
leaving there on the album, I think like some interesting
choices to say this is where I'm at, this is
where I'm moving forward. Definitely loves his wife, definitely loves
(05:53):
his kid, and I guess just saying I'm human and
I'm trying to do the best I can and move
forward with that. Yeah, nothing too deep in some of
the lyrics, though, very repetitive like they he just says
things over and over again and isn't going too deep
about it or anything, but I think still him having control.
Daisy's is one of my favorite tracks, which we're going
to play a little bit later. I reckon this could
(06:14):
be the big radio play. It's quite poppy. It's got
that real cool lo fi guitar riff intro that then
carries on through the rest of the tune. His vocals
are quite four front, which I think has always worked
for him in those big pop songs that have then
become kind of radio hits.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Yeah, and sort of a little bit of a hazy,
kind of oh my summary sort of sound to it
as well, which I think will actually do quite well.
But it's actually one that's just really stood out to me.
So yeah, when I have a lot of listen to
that as well.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Okay, what'd you give it?
Speaker 5 (06:44):
It's an eight out of ten for me, very good.
I'm not sure if I'm into the random chat stuff,
but you know, it's there and it's got a post.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I don't like that.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yeah, it does have a purpose. I mean, yeah, I
don't know. I don't like when they I don't know
when Kanya did it either. I don't like, you know,
I just I don't like.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
There's little moments of that where it does remind me
of that, And maybe that's why I've decided to give
it that because it's also about Drew Skis saying, oh
you're you're sounding black and like just really trying to
talk up what it is he's trying to do right,
And I don't know if it's forced or if it's
actually genuine, like I can't quite tell, but anyway, it's there.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Well, thank you for doing the tough stuff for us
last night last week caller as soon as it as
soon as it dropped. So yeah, eight out of ten
for swag. We'll have a bit more of a listen.
We'll pick out Daisy's your favorite one there, Estelle, so
we can play that in a few minutes. The Stelee
Clifford is our music reviewer.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News talks' b from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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