SWAG's Misguided Attempt to BRAT
Dissecting the visuals of Justin Bieber's latest album campaigns
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Two months after Justin Bieber released SWAG, his first album in four years, he swiftly followed up with the deluxe edition, SWAG II. The first album cover is a solid black square with “SWAG” centered in all caps, gray. Nothing groundbreaking, it falls in line behind many plain black album covers (e.g., Sex Pistols, Spinal Tap, Prince, Dean Blunt, Kanye West, etc.). Now, in Tickle Me Pink, SWAG II stands out much brighter and grabs fans’ attention on billboards, subway tunnels, and Big Ben. It’s almost just as hard to miss as when BRAT green took over the world last Summer.
The album covers of SWAG II and Charli XCX’s career-changing album, BRAT, share many similarities beyond their highlighter color palettes. The titles are also one-syllabic, four-letter, capitalized words placed in unexpected, messy fonts (the kerning on SWAG and SWAG II doesn’t match). Unlike the acclaim found for BRAT and its follow-up release, Rolling Stone called SWAG II “depressingly safe” and “could have called it Swag and It’s Completely Different and Not Very Good but Also Still Swag” in reference to Charli’s success.
While a departure from his past aesthetic, SWAG and SWAG II’s covers also feel “depressingly safe.” Much more moving are the press photos of Justin, wife Hailey Bieber, and their newborn son Jack, which have accompanied the campaign throughout both releases. Photographer Renell Medrano captured the family candidly around a farm, casually styled in white tanks and jeans. They evoke a nostalgic Americana ideal with open barn doors, tall wheat fields, and a floral couch. Upon SWAG’s release, the press photos existed in black and white, matching the solid black cover. Now with SWAG II out in pink, they live in color.
One of my favorite images from the campaign pictures Justin playing with his son on a sofa. The singer gazes down at his son, whose face is poetically obscured by the arm of the couch. Shirtless, the pink-toned florals of the fabric blend in with Justin’s tattoos, almost forming a painting. Cropped to a square, this image would’ve been a standout album cover and a call back to the love for his family he sings about on both albums. Instead of the legacy of solid black covers, SWAG could’ve joined the ranks of art showcasing musicians with their children and families (think Gil Scott-Heron’s Real Eyes, The Beach Boys’ Sunflower, and Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, also shot by Medrano).
With BRAT, Charli XCX taught the music industry that niche is in and cookie-cutter is out. However, that doesn’t mean the rave green campaign can be copied and pasted by everyone else (the colors of the rainbow will eventually run out). And I sadly can’t help but imagine a music executive in the conference room pitching this route to Bieber over the opportunity to turn Medrano’s beautiful photography into a genuine, vulnerable cover. Perhaps if there’s a SWAG III, the third time will be the charm to get it right.
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Good analysis of something I wouldn't have looked at for more than a 30th of a second. The kerning is kind of hilarious. Someone was, like, "Can we get that right this time??" As for black album covers, perhaps you meant Metallica's fifth album, sometimes called "The Black Album," as the Sex Pistols' debut (and only true album) had a famously colorful cover designed by the late, great Jamie Reid.