#2016 pop

I just need one more shot at forgiveness

from the album Purpose

At 15, Justin Bieber released his debut single, and for the next half-decade, he would be the internet’s favourite punching bag, despite not doing much of anything except releasing inoffensive pop songs and attracting a huge, obsessive fanbase made up primarily of young girls. Things women like get dumped on constantly and compulsively by the male-dominated internet (see: the Kardashians, Twilight, Fifty Shades Of Grey) and Justin copped it repeatedly, until his behaviour actually started to align with his mega-douche reputation. By acting out, he effectively put an end to the first phase of “Bieber fever”, which, by the looks of things, was exactly what he wanted. At the end of 2013, his third album Journals (not a compilation, despite what Wikipedia might try to tell you; it was comprised of all-new material) was supported by a messy, ten-songs-in-ten-weeks promotional strategy, and its digital-only sales were not reported to Billboard. We can gauge by its performance Australia (#35) and the UK (#46) that the results were not great. Four-and-a-half years after his debut, it looked like this phenomenon was over.

If you’ve switched on a radio at any point in the last two years, you’ll know that Justin Bieber actually ended up staging one of the most impressive comebacks in recent memory. Since February 2015, he has racked up 12 international hits as a lead and featured artist, including the two biggest Billboard hits of 2016 and the massively successful album Purpose. He matched Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men’s long-standing record of sixteen weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with his appearance on ‘Despacito’, which will surely end up as the biggest song of 2017. He charted 17 songs on the Hot 100 in one week, took up three spots in the top five, and replaced himself at number one in the UK. Perhaps most surprisingly, Bieber received five Grammy nominations across 2016 and 2017, winning one - he had managed two previous nominations, both in 2011, but full-on Grammy approval was a solid, undeniable reflection on the leap forward that Purpose and its peripheral releases had signified.

Most of these songs weren’t just successful, they were also really, really good - there’s no way Bieber would have been able to sustain this comeback and break all these records based on name recognition and audience curiosity alone. Choosing the best of this run of singles ultimately comes down to the three main hits from Purpose. 'What Do You Mean?’ and ‘Love Yourself’ successfully realise the intimate, minimalist vibe that ‘Boyfriend’ had attempted way back in 2012, but ‘Sorry’ is even more impressive. It is the best use of Justin’s vocals yet, alternating between his trademark laid-back delivery and an expressive, pleading tone that channels desperation by pushing his voice to the limit - his attempts at belting on his earliest hits were, let’s face it, pretty unpleasant, but on ‘Sorry’, he knows his limits, using his voice more effectively than ever before.

The track is also infectiously catchy on every level, from the tropical house beat (we were never going to get through this without referring to that term) to the expertly crafted chorus. Modern songwriting wizards Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels increased their profiles considerably after ‘Sorry’ was released, and it makes sense that the public would want to know just who exactly was behind a song this good. Michaels is now a solo star in her own right, and even BloodPop, another co-writer and producer on ‘Sorry’, recently scored his first hit as a lead artist with the Bieber collaboration ‘Friends’. Thanks to Purpose, tropical house became the it-genre of 2016, dominating the chart to such an extent that the often unacknowledged musical references to dancehall became a controversy in itself. ‘Sorry’ is arguably the most culturally influential song of the past few years - and the fact that it was released by an artist who many assumed was due for a spectacular career implosion is just the icing on the cake.

‘Sorry’ music video:

Chart peaks: US #1, UK #1, AUS #2