![\"We](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/59f9dbea7280d90b23246841816da1e4.jpeg\"\/)
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We discuss Justin Bieber’s new album ‘Swag’ on the new episode of ‘Rolling Stone Music Now’ – Credit: Renell Medrano*<\/p>\n
In between standing on business in paparazzi clashes and dodging endless rumors about his personal life, it turns out Justin Bieber was busy in the studio, making a genuinely interesting album<\/a>. Swag is full of well-chosen collaborators \u2014\u00a0 Gunna, Sexyy Red, Cash Cobain, Lil B, Dijon\u00a0\u2014\u00a0confessional lyrics, and even surprisingly self-aware skits recorded with Druski.<\/p>\n More from Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n In the new episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, we break down the last few years of Bieber\u2019s life and career, with Jeff Ihaza (who wrote a smart piece <\/a>on Bieber\u2019s cultural savvy) and Brittany Spanos joining host Brian Hiatt. (To hear the whole episode, go here<\/a> for the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a>, or just press play above.)\u00a0<\/p>\n The discussion notes that Bieber stepped off the pop treadmill after the endless work of his younger years \u2014\u00a0Swag is only his third album of the past 10 years. It\u2019s also a welcome throwback to an era where male pop stars drew from R&B instead of, say, soft rock. The panel goes on to dig into Bieber\u2019s enduring influence \u2014 stars like Billie Eilish worship him, and he still carries weight as \u201ca cool white boy,\u201d as Ihaza puts it, in hip-hop and R&B.<\/p>\n Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone\u2018s weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a> (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out eight years\u2019 worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, SZA, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Kirk Hammett, Coco Jones, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone\u2019s critics and reporters.<\/p>\n Best of Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for RollingStone’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We discuss Justin Bieber’s new album ‘Swag’ on the new episode of ‘Rolling Stone Music Now’ – Credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":80260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[55096,55095,55097,171,12303,55098,975,1012,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-80259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-apple-podcasts","9":"tag-brian-hiatt","10":"tag-brittany-spanos","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-justin-bieber","13":"tag-justin-townes-earle","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-rolling-stone","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114890499880146326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}