I wasn’t listening.

I first listened to Journals around five years ago after a friend recommended it to me.

At the time, I wasn’t really listening to Justin Bieber. My perception of him was still shaped by his early career, so I never felt any real reason to revisit his music.

My friend kept telling me, Give him a chance. He’s a man now.

It sounds simple, but that was the push I needed.

When I finally put on Journals, I heard an artist completely different from the one I remembered. The voice, the confidence, the production — everything felt more mature. This wasn’t the teenage pop star I had written off years earlier.

The album’s R&B influences are impossible to ignore, and that’s part of what makes it work so well. Tracks like PYD show a level of confidence and comfort that I wasn’t expecting.

In fact, PYD remains my favourite song on the entire record — with R. Kelly on Put You Down and Alone as well.

What surprised me most wasn’t that the album was good. It was how quickly it changed my perception of Justin Bieber as an artist.

He’s released plenty of great music since, but Journals remains my favourite Bieber album. Not because it’s perfect, but because it was the record that made me listen differently.

And in the end, my friend was right.