SWAG: What Justin Bieber’s new album reveals about his married life and fame

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Justin Bieber released a surprise seventh studio album on Friday, posting the album title, tracklist and cover on social media just a few hours before the release of SWAG.

The album comes amid heightened scrutiny of Bieber’s private life, following tense paparazzi interactions, alleged issues in his marriage to Hailey Bieber and his almost daily Instagram posts.

The almost hour- long project includes lyrics that give fans a glimpse into what is going on with the Canadian singer. Besides the songs, he also included interludes of him talking about these topics more candidly on recorded voice memos.

Here’s a breakdown of some of what Bieber reveals through the 21 new songs on his album SWAG.

Bieber started his career in 2008, when he was just 13. For the past seventeen years, the singer has been constantly in the media, with every one of his actions, mistakes and achievements being scrutinized by a massive audience.

On track six, BUTTERFLIES, Bieber addresses his struggles with fame head on. He begins the song with audio from a video of him calling out the paparazzi in early 2025. “Money, that’s all you want, you don’t care about human beings. All you want is money,” he says.

Bieber then moves on to say how being in the public eye is good and bad, “It’s a pain in pleasure, never black and white. (Never black and white.)”

In the song, Bieber sings “I’m just moving, and moving, and moving, and moving, I’m slippin’ away (Moving then, I’m slippin’ away).”

One of the reasons why the Biebers were in the spotlight again this year was because of the way their marriage was being talked about by fans and the media. With Justin posting on Instagram saying he never thought Hailey would make it to the cover of Vogue, and divorce rumours, a lot of fans were wondering what was the state of their marriage.

In GO BABY, Justin sings, “That’s my baby, she’s iconic, iPhone case, lip gloss on it / And, oh my days, she keeps ’em talkin’, it’s comedy, just block it,” referring to Hailey’s brand rhode, that went viral last year in part because of a phone case she created that can hold her lip gloss. Hailey sold rhode in May to e.l.f Beauty for US$1 billion. She is the chief creative officer and head of innovation for rhode, and a strategic advisor for both rhode and e.l.f.

Justin also sings about the hate Hailey receives online and how he is there for her, despite what people are saying on the internet.

“Don’t need to pretend that you’re okay / So cry on my shoulder, just turn into me / Cry on my shoulder whenever you need it,” he sings.

On the tenth track, WALKING AWAY, Bieber suggests they need to take a break, but also that they need to stay together to fix their issues.

“I think we better off if we just take a break / And remember what grace is,” he sings.

“I made you a promise / I told you I’d change / It’s just human nature / These growing pains / And baby, I ain’t walking away.”

In the first voice memo Bieber included, GLORY VOICE MEMO, he talks about how much being in the industry from a young age has hurt him, and how he’s trying to heal through religion, a theme previously seen in his sixth album, Justice.

“Too wild when I fall down, screaming out / But I, I reach out my hands, I’m beggin’ You for mercy,” he sings.

The three tracks in the album that feature American comedian, actor and influencer Druski, show a more personal side of Bieber, as he reflects on his struggles and appears more vulnerable, especially in THERAPY SESSION and STANDING ON BUSINESS.

In THERAPY SESSION, Bieber talks openly about how everything he does online makes people constantly worry if he’s okay, when he’s just actually being himself and is doing fine, despite dealing with his own struggles.

“And he’s like, ‘Nah, I think he’s just bein’ a human bein’. He’s enjoyin’ social media like the f–kin’ rest of us. He’s just doin’ it his own way’,” says Druski.

Druski is referring to the many Instagram posts Bieber made over the past few months, mostly written text talking about loyalty, what people deserve or not, relationships, healing and even screenshots of text messages of him ending a friendship.

“It’s feelin’ like, you know, I have had to go through a lot of my struggles as a human, as all of us do, really publicly. And so people are always askin’ if I’m okay. And that starts to really weigh on mе,” Bieber says.

“It starts to make me feel like I’m the one with issues and everyone else is perfect.”

Bieber candidly talks about his latest paparazzi interaction that went viral on STANDING ON BUSINESS. Druski and Bieber play the video and Druski says “I like that you pronounce business,” referring to the way he dealt with the paparazzi.

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