He did it again!
Less than two months after dropping his seventh studio album, Swag, with very little heads up, Justin Bieber has done the same with his eighth.
And you’ll never guess what it’s called.
Bieber announced the imminent release of Swag II, reportedly a pop-heavy follow-up to the R&B vibes of Swag Uno, via his Instagram. The singer shared photos of pink billboards bearing the album’s name and release date, Sept. 5 at midnight.
The release continues a resurgence for Bieber, who — before Swag — went four years without an album. And the surprise release was a hit for the singer, scoring decent reviews from critics and the number-two spot on the Billboard 200 album charts.
Interestingly, the timing of the releases means that the awards circuit could be seeing a lot of Bieber in the months and years to come.
Swag the First dropped July, making it eligible for the Grammys cycle that ended last week and will announce winners in early 2026. Swag II came out just six days after the conclusion of that window on August 30.
That means the next two Grammy Awards will feature the strong possibility of a showing from Bieber.
The singer has two wins under his belt off of 23 total nominations. His most recent award came in 2020 for Best Country Duo/Group Performance with his song “10,000 Hours” with Dan + Shay. Before then, his first win came five years earlier in 2015 with “Where Are Ü Now” for Best Dance Recording.
While full-length reviews are largely still coming together, initial reactions to Swag II have been mostly positive, like they were on the previous record.
“Where Swag felt heavily introspective, Swag II is brighter and generally more fun,” writes Pitchfork’s Millan Verma. “Bieber sticks closer to conventional pop structures on the sequel, attacking them with a looseness that sounds like relief. Songs like ‘Bad Honey’ and ‘All the Way’ still lean heavily towards R&B and gospel, but have much less of an alternative skew. After breaking through what felt like artistic purgatory on Swag, II feels like a victory lap, a celebration of his newfound freedom.”
This article was originally published on Sept. 5 and updated on Sept. 6.