Justin Bieber surprised fans on Thursday by announcing an unexpected follow-up to his seventh album, Swag, which he released in July. According to Variety, the “Yukon” singer dropped the new album, Swag II, (actually a deluxe reissue of Swag itself), less than 24 hours later, after fans spotted billboards, projections and banners around the world featuring the project’s album cover.
Bieber addresses ‘Swag II’ delay in a series of Instagram posts
Similar to Swag, Bieber teased the project early Thursday morning with billboards and banners in London and Los Angeles. He later confirmed the project on Instagram, sharing that Swag II would drop at midnight.
But it took a little longer for Swag II to make its debut. According to People magazine, the album appeared on streaming platforms like YouTube Music, Spotify and Apple Music early Friday morning. Bieber poked fun at the delay in a series of Instagram posts.
“It’s comingggggg,” he wrote in one post alongside a screenshot of text messages.
“Me waiting with u, not baiting u not sure wut the f**kkyyy is going on clicking refreshhhhhh,” the singer captioned a follow-up post with a screenshot of his viral “it’s not clocking to you” meme.
He later updated fans on where they could stream the album.
‘Swag II’ is an addendum to ‘Swag’
Swag II includes 23 tracks with guest appearances from Tems, Lil B, Bakar, Hurricane Chris and Eddie Benjamin. The album has been described as an addendum to Swag, bringing the total number of Swag tracks to 44, Variety reported.
Songs like “Mother in You,” “Love Song,” “Don’t Wanna” and “Better Man” dive headfirst into emotional territory, which isn’t unfamiliar to the singer. “Don’t Wanna,” featuring English singer Bakar, appears to see the 31-year-old referring to his 2016 breakup with now-wife Hailey Baldwin Bieber.
“I don’t want to mess this up, I don’t want you to leave,” he sings on the track before adding, “You said you lost your wings when we broke it off, but now I’m back at your door.”
Bieber also appears to address his mental health in Swag II. “Speed Demon” sees the singer croon, “They try to say I’m out of my mind, but now they’re singing every line. Got a lot of mountains to climb, had to leave some beggars behind.”
Bieber’s Swag era follows his 2021 album, Justice. According to Variety, Swag debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, his biggest streaming week to date. Swag track “Daisies” also took the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, while “Yukon” peaked at No. 8 and “First Place” earned the No. 52 spot on the chart.
