Maps of Music

Purpose (2015)

Where the lyrics of Purpose take you, and where it was really made.

Released as a follow-up to Believe, Purpose debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 649,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, Bieber's largest first-week sales.

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Album story

Overview

• Purpose: fourth studio album by Canadian singer Justin Bieber
• Released 13 November 2015 through Def Jam Recordings and School Boy Records
• Follow-up to his third studio album Believe (2012)
• Guest appearances from Big Sean, Travis Scott, Halsey, Jack Ü, and Ariana Grande
• Production by Bieber and Jack Ü, BloodPop, Benny Blanco, the Audibles, Soundz, Mike Dean, Ian Kirkpatrick, and Andre Harris, among others
• Sound described as a mix of EDM and dance-pop, with tropical house in some tracks and live instruments such as acoustic guitars in others
• Four singles: "What Do You Mean?", "Sorry", "Love Yourself", and "Company"

Background

• Developed after the compilation album Journals (2013), which moved him toward an R&B direction
• Journals came out in December 2013, after the ten-week Music Mondays project
• In January 2014, Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd, who had worked on most of Journals, began recording heavily with him
• In March 2015 Bieber said he had to redo the whole album, since it did not match where he was at that point
• Early 2015 collaboration with Skrillex and Diplo on "Where Are Ü Now", from their Jack Ü album; the song also appears on Purpose
• He later worked with Skrillex on a handful of the album's songs

Recording

• Poo Bear, a friend and frequent musical collaborator, helped shape the sound
• Bieber confirmed in October 2015 that Ed Sheeran had written a song for the album
• In March 2015 Bieber announced he was working with Kanye West
• Bieber said much of his inspiration came from his former girlfriend Selena Gomez, and that the album contains a lot of that

Cover

• Cover art made by the street artist Retna, revealed on 9 October 2015
• Bieber shirtless in a prayer-like pose, with the word "Purpose" on his torso
• The deluxe edition uses the same cover with the background and crosses tinted black (deluxe fact, not used for this album's points)
• Initially banned in various Middle Eastern countries and Indonesia; an alternate cover showing Bieber atop a cliff was issued for those countries

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Justin Drew Bieber (born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer, born in London, Ontario and raised in Stratford.
• He was discovered by Scooter Braun after Braun found his 2007 YouTube covers, and signed to RBMG, a joint venture of Braun and Usher, later with Island Records.
• His debut EP My World (2009) and debut album My World 2.0 (2010) topped the US Billboard 200 at the time, making him the youngest solo male to do so in 47 years.
• Believe (2012) marked a shift from teen pop to dance-pop and R&B; by age 18 he had five US number-one albums.
• Purpose (2015) produced three US Billboard Hot 100 number-ones: Love Yourself, Sorry and What Do You Mean?.
• Later albums Changes (2020), Justice (2021), Swag (2025) and Swag II (2025) continued his chart success.
• He is estimated to have sold over 150 million records and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Awards

• He has won 2 Grammy Awards, 8 Juno Awards, 2 Brit Awards and 26 Billboard Music Awards.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Billboard's Kenneth Partridge gave the album four out of five stars, praising its consistent palette of electro-dance sounds
• Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt praised the mix of dance music and modern R&B
• The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick called it less of a mainstream crowd pleaser and more a quirky, atmospheric electro R'n'B concoction
• NME's Al Horner gave three out of five stars, saying it is certainly a start at reinvention
• The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan said the songs are often interesting even though the voice soon palls
• Spin's Andrew Unterberger praised the album, and Spin placed it at number 15 on its 25 Best Pop Albums of 2015 list

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Andy Kellman gave 3 out of 5 stars, calling it a bumpy, oddly compelling restart
• Pitchfork's Brad Nelson said the album does not particularly follow up on the advances of Journals
• The A.V. Club's Annie Zaleski felt it takes itself so seriously that it suppresses what made Bieber appealing
• Slant Magazine's Sam C. Mac was more mixed on the reinvention
• Consequence of Sound's Janine Schaults said the album reaches some of the highest highs and lowest lows of Bieber's career
• Metacritic gave an average score of 63 out of 100 from 20 reviews

Records

• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 649,000 album-equivalent units, including 522,000 traditional sales
• Bieber's sixth number-one album in the United States and his largest sales week
• Debuted at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart with 90,596 in its first week
• Eight songs charted in the UK top 40 in the release week, a record for simultaneous top 40 entries by a living artist
• Nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards
• Won the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album
• Certified 6× platinum by the RIAA

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Bieber set a record for the most simultaneous top 40 entries from a living artist in the UK chart the week the album was released.
• Purpose was initially banned in various Middle Eastern countries and Indonesia due to the cover art's Christian references.
• Poo Bear, who had worked on most of Journals, began recording heavily with Bieber in January 2014.
• Bieber's "What Do You Mean?" was his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Bieber said he had to redo the whole album in 2015 because it did not match where he was at that time.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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