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NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 If it wasn’t clocking to you before, it should be now. Justin Bieber<\/a> is doing whatever he wants.<\/p>\n The 31-year-old has surprised listeners with a second new album in 2025 \u2014 \u201cSwag ll\u201d<\/a> follows July’s \u201cSwag.\u201d Both arrived shortly after mysterious billboards teasing the records cropped up in major cities. The new album, his eighth, is an obvious companion piece, not only in name, but also in sound, theme and zeal. Liken it to Taylor Swift’s \u201cThe Tortured Poets Department\u201d<\/a> double album drop \u2014 this 23-track album is for his diehard loyalists. (Or 44 tracks, if listened to with \u201cSwag,\u201d a combined run time of two hours and 11 minutes.)<\/p>\n The first installment was, in some ways, a return to form. Before he became the internet’s first true popstar, and long before he’d find additional fame for his EDM-pop megahits \u201cWhere Are \u00dc Now\u201d and \u201cWhat Do You Mean?,\u201d Bieber was a 12-year-old Canadian kid uploading R&B covers to a YouTube account created by his mom to share with his friends. His performances were ambitious \u2014 Ne-Yo\u2019s \u201cSo Sick\u201d and Aretha Franklin\u2019s<\/a> \u201cRespect\u201d among them \u2014 and charismatic, eventually catching the eye of Usher,<\/a>Scooter Braun,<\/a> and then the world. On \u201cSwag,\u201d Bieber pulled from those soulful influences, experimenting in the process. Slow-burn, alternative R&B-pop has always been a sweet spot; and on the introspective album, he reunited with those sounds, progressed by some future-seeking collaborators like the guitarist Mk.gee<\/a> on \u201cDaisies\u201d and the rising R&B singer Dijon on the Prince-esque \u201cDevotion.\u201d<\/p>\n Both reappear on \u201cSwag ll,\u201d as do rappers Lil B and Australian singer Eddie Benjamin. There are three new voices as well: Afrobeats star Tems,<\/a> rapper Hurricane Chris and the English singer Bakar. Notably absent are the self-referential skits of the first release with the comedian Druski.<\/p>\n And like the first, there are religious ruminations (most directly, in the nearly 8-minute-long coda \u201cStory of God,\u201d in which Bieber tells the story of Adam and Eve) and odes to his wife (\u201cBetter Man,\u201d \u201cMother in You\u201d). In one, the hooky \u201cLove Song,\u201d he sings to Hailey Bieber<\/a> with an accidental Sara Bareilles-recollection: \u201cI wanna write you a love song \/ I wanna write you a good one you can\u2019t stop singing to me.\u201d In that regard, there’s a kind of lightness to \u201cSwag ll\u201d \u2014 likely because Bieber spends less time considering how he is depicted in the media (think \u201cTherapy Session\u201d and the paparazzi recording that introduces \u201cButterflies\u201d on \u201cSwag\u201d), and, instead, goes deeper into his relationships. There’s a reason the \u201cSwag ll\u201d album cover is baby pink and \u201cSwag\u201d was jet black after all.<\/p>\n Bieber continues with the dreamy production of the first \u201cSwag.\u201d Sometimes it works, sometimes it feels repetitive. Some songs are so lo-fi as to feel unfinished, like demos released to function as interludes or raw evocations of vulnerability (\u201cDotted Line,\u201d in particular). Others have obvious delights, from the joyful trap hi-hats of \u201cPoppin’ My S—\u201d to \u201cPetting Zoo,\u201d which recalls his beloved 2013 album \u201cJournals.\u201d Bieber ornaments \u201cEye Candy\u201d with Michael Jackson-informed inflections,<\/a> which succeeds \u2014 particularly in advance of the next song, \u201cDon’t Wanna\u201d featuring Bakar, with its MJ-like production. \u201cLove Song\u201d is a contender for the album’s best; \u201cSpeed Demon\u201d brings back rap-singing Bieber.<\/p>\n Across 23 \u2014 or 44 \u2014 songs, those who sift will find gold. They’ll also hear a lot of love.<\/p>\n Three stars out of five.<\/p>\n On repeat: \u201cLove Song\u201d<\/p>\n Skip it: \u201cDotted Line\u201d<\/p>\n