Freedom. 2021 Album

Justin Bieber

This EP is horrible. The best songs are insipid contemporary Christian schlock, and the worst song, Afraid to Say, is the worst take on cancel culture I've ever heard. Especially since Bieber wasn't canceled after everything he's done.

Hello, I'm Laura Ingraham, and today, I'm going to be doing the final part in this discography review series. That's right, we've made it to the end. We're ending on something of a surprising note, because I was not expecting Justin to do this. When this EP came out, I couldn't believe that Justin was making contemporary Christian music. I went into this expecting to hate it, because even though I am a Christian, I don't like contemporary Christian music. However, once I actually gave this EP a chance, I realized it was actually really good. I don't own this one on vinyl, it's not that good, but it is close. Let me explain why it's good. For one thing, the instrumentation on this album is more varied than most contemporary Christian music. The first song, Freedom, has afrobeat elements, the next two songs are hip hop, and the rest of them are pretty standard contemporary Christian. Even so, these last few songs are still unique enough from each other for me to tell them apart. This makes for a listen that's at least interesting, if nothing else. Another thing I like is that Justin admits to his own flaws on this album. We're In This Together, one of the surprisingly great rap songs, talks about how he was a trouble maker growing up and how that came back to bite him in the ass. What I love about this is that he doesn't imply that finding God was the only thing that led to his redemption, which is what drives me up the wall about a lot of religious music. Even on the songs that are just about how great God is, Justin still manages to pull it off. Freedom in particular is a great song about the joys of freedom and believing in God. I love the afrobeat elements on this. In fact, I may have to explore that genre more. All She Wrote is the other rap song on here, and it also sounds great. Thematically, it's kind of a mix of the last two songs, and I love it. It's about Justin praying for forgiveness, and I think he deserves it. Unfortunately, the second half of this EP isn't nearly as strong. Where You Go I Follow is pretty standard contemporary Christian music, but I'd still argue it's above average thanks to a slightly faster tempo. However, the next song, Where Do I Fit In is a slow, boring snoozefest, and while Afraid to Say had potential with its lyrics about cancel culture, it's also boring. So yeah, not quite a great record. Shame, because the first few songs gave me hope. I give this a strong 7/10, and a recommendation. Only for Justin Bieber diehards and contemporary Christian fans, though. If you're neither of those things, maybe listen to some of his other albums first, then come back to this one. Trust me, it's worth it.