Hello, I'm Laura Ingraham, and today, I'm going to be reviewing Justin Bieber's highly underrated compilation album titled Journals. So, unless you're a die hard Justin Bieber fan or a music nerd who's been through Justin's entire discography, you've probably never heard of this album, so let me fill you in. This album started as a collection of ten singles released once a week every Monday. None of the singles charted for very long, but that didn't stop Justin from releasing a compilation of all these singles along with five other songs. According to him, this album is intended specifically for his diehard fanbase, which might explain why I'd never heard it prior to listening to his next album Purpose.
After listening to Purpose and being surprised by it, I saw some Justin Bieber fans on the internet talking about how glad they were that he'd kept up his R&B sound from Journals. This got me curious, so I checked out the compilation on YouTube and after only a few listens decided to buy it on vinyl. Yes, we've finally gotten to the Justin Bieber albums that I love.
To explain why I love this album so much, let's start with the sound. Up until this point, Justin had been a pop star. Here, he's clearly going for more of an R&B sound, and it fits his voice so much better than pop. With pop, you have to have a big, expressive voice, which Justin, as much as I love his vocals, doesn't really have. He's a bit more low-key, like that mysterious guy in the shadows who sits in the corner at a party and watches everyone but never actually participates. That style fits a more chill genre like R&B much better than it does pop.
It also helps that the instrumentation on this album is almost uniformly perfect. My favorite song here musically has to b Confident, which sounds like a weird mix of R&B, hip hop, and reggae. It's extremely catchy, and Justin manages to sound smooth while still being that guy in the shadows.
Even on more typical R&B songs, the instrumentation manages to stand out, and Justin sounds great over nearly all of it. Take for example the opening track Heartbreaker, which starts out as a pretty typical R&B song where Justin tries to get his girl back. Then at the end there's an instrumental switch up where the song becomes a bit darker and Justin's lyrics become a bit more desperate. It's almost as if he's gotten sick of her continued rejections.
Speaking of lyrics, this album is actually pretty well-written. Sure, it has a lot of breakup songs, but they're mostly well-done. I already mentioned Heartbreaker, but there's also the back-to-back combo of Recovery and Bad Day. Both of these have very similar themes of feeling sad about a breakup, but both are just detailed enough to be interesting and neither comes off as unlikable.
Then there's the song Roller Coaster, probably the most energetic song on here aside from Confident, which is about a relationship that's like a roller coaster. What I love about this song, is that the music sounds like a heavily altered version of carnival music. Seriously, I would love to see a dark cabaret artist sample this.
There are also some love songs on here, unsurprisingly. Songs like All That Matters and Memphis are cute, and have some nice, relaxing instrumentation as well. Memphis, in particular, has easily the most fun melody on this album.
Then there's Swap It Out, which is an adorable song about Justin wanting his partner to open up to him. It's not a personal favorite of mine, mostly because the instrumentation isn't as unique, but it has enough great in it for me to enjoy. Speaking of songs with lesser instrumentation that I still enjoy, Change Me is another. This song is a simple piano ballad with some absolutely gorgeous lyrics where Justin talks about wanting to change for the better.
This is all great, but what I really love about this album is how many things Justin pulls off that I wouldn't expect him to. I already mentioned the carnival music on Roller Coaster and the R&B-reggae mix on Confident, but let's not forget the Future feature and trap elements on What's Hatnin' or the genuine sexiness of PYD. I generally try to keep it classy, but man, this song arouses me. I say this despite pedo-boy R. Kelly being on here, which makes me seriously wish that this song was more well-known so that Justin would make a new version without him.
However, Justin trying to be sexy doesn't always work. Sure, PYD is sexy as fuck, but Hold Tight is way too annoying and creepy to be hot. If Justin didn't sound good over it, I'd probably hate it more.
Speaking of songs I don't care for, All Bad and One Life. All Bad is just infuriating, with Justin trying to win back his ex with lines about how girls are obsessed with drama and running their mouths. What is this, r/NiceGuys? One Life is just boring.
The final song I want to talk about is the song Backpack. I saved this song for last specifically because it might just be the weirdest song in Justin's catalogue lyrically. This song is about Justin becoming friends with an alien (wow, I can't believe I just typed that) who crash-landed on Earth. Even weirder is that this alien is played by Lil Wayne. I know he said he wasn't a human being, but wow.
Despite how weird this song is, I love it. It's creative and unique, and it even has a guitar solo. Seriously, Justin, why didn't you push this as the lead single? And why didn't your label promote this album more?
Overall, I love this album, even if it is definitely flawed. The good songs outweigh the bad by a landslide, and the good tracks are really good. I give this album a solid 8/10, and I recommend that you check it out if you haven't. Especially if you haven't given Justin the proper chance. Who knows? It might surprise you.
